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. 








THE BIRDS 


or 


ARISTOPHANES. 









THE GREEK TEXT 


AS PERFORMED BY MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, CAMBRIDGE, 
4 
NOVEMBER, 1883 ; 


WITH THE ENGLISH VERSION OF 
BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, D.D. 


REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK. 


Cambridge : 


PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS: 
AND SOLD BY 


MACMILLAN AND BOWES. 


1883 
[All Rights reserved.| 





Price Two Shillings. 


THE BIRDS 


OF 


ARISTOPHANKES. 


THE GREEK TEXT 


AS PERFORMED BY MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY 
AT THE THEATRE ROYAL, CAMBRIDGE, 
NOVEMBER, 1883; 


WITH THE ENGLISH VERSION OF 
BENJAMIN HALL KENNEDY, D.D. 


REGIUS PROFESSOR OF GREEK. 


Cambridge : 


PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS: 
AND SOLD BY 


MACMILLAN & BOWES. 
1883 


2028 ff. ].- 








COMMITTEE: 


Prorrsson Kennepy, D.D., ‘St John’s College, President. 

A. AustEN-LeicH, M.A., King’s College. 

A. ©. Benson, King’s College. 

Oscaz Brownina, M.A., King’s College. . 

J. W. Cuanx, M.A., Trinity College, Treasurer and Secretary. 
Prorgessor Cotvin, M.A., Trinity College, Vice-President. 

H. J. C. Cusr, Trinity College. 

E. A. Gagpner, Caius College. 

Henry Jackson, M.A., Trinity College. 

Prorsessorn JEBB, Trinity College. 

A. Fisxemine Jena, Trinity College. 

F. J. H. Jenxinson, M.A., Trinity College. 

C. T. Musarave, Trinity College. 

Prorresson Newron, M.A., Magdalene College. 

G. W. Proruero, M.A., King’s College. 

F.R. Pryor, Trinity College, Assistant Stage-Manager and Assistant Secretary. 
J. E. Sanpys, M.A., St John’s College, Public Orator, Vice-President. 
C. V. Sranrorp, M.A., Trinity College, Trainer of the Chorus. 

C. Wautpstrern, M.A., King’s College, Stage-Manager. 

H. F. Wrson, B.A., Trinity College. 








PREFACE. 


ENCOURAGED by the success which attended the per- 
formance of The Ajax of Sophocles last year, the Committee 
have determined to follow it up by the performance of 
another Greek play. This year they have ventured to 
substitute a comedy for a tragedy. 


To understand fully the principle upon which this 
representation of The Birds of Aristophanes has been based, 
it must be borne in mind that the primary aim of the 
performance is academical. The main object is not to 
achieve a dramatic success, but to solve the important and 
interesting question, how far is it possible for an ancient 
Greek comedy, performed under favourable conditions, to 
appeal to the sympathies of a modern audience ? 


The second question to be decided by the Committee 
and the actors was, how to realise those conditions ? 
A 2 


lv PREFACE. 


Here as in the performance of The Ajaa in December 
1882, a compromise has been attempted between the ac- 
curate reproduction of ancient theatrical customs and real 
life, on the one hand, and a due regard for the require- | 
ments of modern taste on the other. 


The incidental music has been written by Dr Hubert 
Parry. Convinced that the attempt exactly to reproduce 
Greek music cannot succeed, and that, if it could, the 
result would not be intelligible or enjoyable to a modern 
audience, the composer set himself to express in a 
thoroughly modern way the ideas suggested to him by the 
words or the situations of the play. Once only has an 
ancient scale been introduced; at line 858 the unfortunate 
flute-player executes a modern tune in the Lydian mode, 
to which it is not at all suited. 


We know from ancient vases representing scenes from The 
Birds of Aristophanes (see, for instance, Journal of Hellenic 
Studies for the year 1881, Vol. 11. p. 309 and Pl. xiv.), that 
the dress of the Bird-chorus was purely conventional. In 
devising the dresses for the present occasion, Mr J. W. Clark 
has endeavoured, with the assistance of Professor Newton, 
to modify this conventionalised bird-dress, and to represent 
with some degree of ornithological accuracy both the struc- 
ture of the wings in general and the form of the beak m 
the individual birds. | 








PREFACE. v 


The scenery has been painted by Mr John O’Connor. 


Much of the local tone of the comedy and much of the 
spirit of the political allusions must be lost upon an audience 
separated by twenty-three centuries from those for whom the 
play was originally written; on the other hand it is hoped 
that the fresh humour of the action and of the choral dances 
has a character which is not purely local or temporary. 

Even if the result of this performance should be to shew 
that an audience of the present day cannot be satisfied by 
the exhibition of an ancient Greek Comedy, an interesting 
experiment will have been made and an interesting question 
will in some degree have received its answer. 


C. W. 


ARGUMENT. 


THE scene is a rocky wilderness, on which enter two 
Athenians, with slaves and baggage. One of these is Peithe- 
tairos (Winfriend), an inventive genius, the other, Euelpides 
(Hopeful), a chattering jocular cit, with something in him of 
Sancho Panza, and a spice of Mark Tapley. Peithetairos 
carries a crow in his left hand, EKuelpides a jackdaw or jay; 
prophetic birds which act as guides to the two travellers, who, 
sick of litigation, worry, and expense, are migrating from 
Athens in search of a less troublesome abode. Such a city 
they hope to find by the aid of the Hoopoe, formerly Tereus, 
allied by marriage to Pandion, a mythic king of Athens. 
With the help of their birds, they reach his residence, and 
obtain an interview. ‘Of what country are you?’ says the 
Hoopoe. ‘Whence the gallant triremes, replies Euelpides. 
‘Are you Heliasts?—‘No! Heliast-haters: we seek a snug 
city. —A greater than Athens ?’—‘No, but a more comfort- 
able one.—‘ You want an aristocracy.’—‘Not at all: I abhor 
Aristokrates,—‘ Well,’ says the Hoopoe, ‘I know such a city 





ARGUMENT. vii 


on the Red Sea.’—‘No sea-side place for us, where the 
Salaminian galley may come and arrest us. But we should 
like to hear about the bird-life, what sort of thing it is.’— 
‘Pleasant enough.’ (1—161.) And now Peithetairos, who 
has been wrapt in silent meditation, breaks in with the 
announcement of a plan for aggrandizing the Birds, by build- 
ing a city between earth and heaven, which shall intercept 
the savour of sacrifices, and wear the gods to death with 
famine, compelling them to pay tribute, and surrender their 
dominion to the Birds. The Hoopoe, charmed with the idea, 
agrees to summon the Birds to a conference, in which Peithe- 
tairos shall expound his scheme. His nightingale-wife 
Prokne is called out of the brake, and the two sing their 
pibroch of summons to the Bird-tribe (162—262). It 1s 
answered first by the appearance of some peculiar birds, and 
then by the 24 who enter the orchestra and form the Chorus 
of the play (263—309). Horrified at the sight of men, their 
natural enemies, their first impulse is to destroy the two 
Athenians, who, armed with their cooking utensils, stand on 
the defensive. At last the Hoopoe succeeds in cooling their 
wrath; and they consent to hear the exposition of Peithe- 
tairos (310—461). He, by a series of comic instances, and by 
dint of a comic logic, proves to their satisfaction that Birds 
were the deities originally worshipped by mankind. ‘And 
how are we to recover our lost dominion?’ they ask in the 
eagerness of excited ambition. Peithetairos develops his 
plan of a new Bird-city; and removes one by one the diffi- 
culties suggested. His views are accepted with enthusiasm ; 
and a vote of confidence is passed (462—637). The Hoopoe 
introduces the Nightingale to his guests, enters with them 
B2 


viii ARGUMENT. 


into his dwelling, and does not again appear, the conduct of 
the Bird-nation being now left to Peithetairos. Here follows 
the Parabasis, which, after a cosmogony, shewing the Birds to 
be more ancient than the Gods, offers, in the epirrhema, 
impunity for crime as a temptation to settle in Birdland, 
and, in the antepirrhema, recounts various immoral advan- 
tages gained by the possession of wings (638—800). The 
two Athenians, changed into birds by eating a magic root, 
rejoin the Chorus, and, after mutual banter, adopt for the new 
city the title of Cloudcuckooborough (Nephelokokkygia). 
Kuelpides is then despatched to overlook the builders, and 
does not reappear. Peithetairos fetches a priest to pray and 
perform sacrifice, while the Birds chant a Chorikon. The 
priest recites a litany, in which Birdnames are mingled 
in ridiculous confusion with those of the ancient deities. 
After which, because he had brought a lean goat for sacrifice, 
he is dismissed with contumely (801—903). Emigrants 
from the old world apply for admission to the new city; 
a begging poet, a cheating soothsayer, the geometer Meton, 
an official inspector, and a vendor of plebiscites or decrees. 
The poet gets a dole of clothing; the rest are packed off 
with insults and stripes (904—1057). The Chorus then 
sing a second imperfect Parabasis; in the epirrhema of 
which a reward is offered to any one who shall kill the 
atheist Diagoras of Melos, or any of the dead tyrants 
(1058—1117). Tidings come to Peithetairos of the com- 
pletion of the new city, which is ludicrously described. _ Iris, 
the messenger of the gods, who had been despatched to 
require from men the usual sacrifices, is now intercepted by 
the Bird-scouts and brought before Peithetairos, who sends 





ARGUMENT. ix 


her back to heaven with scoffs and threats (1118—1266). A 
herald from earth relates the enthusiasm which is inspired at 
Athens by the foundation of the Bird-city. Crowds, he says, 
are on their way to demand wings. Peithetairos, with his 
slaves, prepares a supply of these. The first candidate is 
a young man who wants to get rid of his father. Peithe- 
tairos dissuades him from this purpose, supplies him with 
wings, a spur and a crest, and sends him to fight his country’s 
battles in Thrace. A professed Informer appears, who desires 
wings to fly to and from the islands in pursuit of his dis- . 
honest business. He is severely scourged and dismissed. 
(1269—1469). A Stasimon follows,.shewing up the poltroon 
Kleonumos and the cloak-robber Orestes. Then enters 
Prometheus as a deserter from heaven, hidden under a 
sunshade or umbrella. He tells Peithetairos that the gods 
are reduced to starvation, and are sending an embassy to 
treat for peace. He advises that the only terms accepted be, 
that the sceptre shall be restored to the Birds, and Royalty, 
the all-powerful handmaid of Zeus, be given to Peithetairos 
in marriage. The scene now changes to the kitchen of 
Cloudcuckooborough. Then appear the three divine am- 
bassadors, Poseidon the courtier, Herakles the glutton, and 
Triballos the barbarian. Peithetairos, who is cooking a 
repast, of which the chief dish consists of birds put to death 
for insurrection against the democratic birds, gains the 
support of Herakles by the savour of dainties, and other 
tempting promises. Herakles wins over Triballos, and, 
Poseidon being thus outvoted, the demands of Peithetairos 
are conceded. He proceeds to heaven with the three am- 
bassadors to receive his bride. A messenger announces the 


x ARGUMENT. 


approach of the bridal pair. Peithetairos, who wields the 
thunderbolts of Zeus, descends with Royalty from a chariot, 
amidst the acclamations of the Birds. The nuptial pro- 
cession is formed, and marches forth to the sound of exulting 
music.* 


B. H. K. 


* The translator desires to acknowledge his debt of gratitude to Mr 
F. J. H. Jenkinson, Fellow of Trinity College, for able cooperation in 
editing the Greek text. 











Peithetairos . 
Euelpides 

Hoopoe . 
Runner-Bird . 
Nightingale 

Priest 

Poet 

Soothsayer 

Meton 

Inspector ; 
Plebiscite Vendor . 
First Messenger 
Second Messenger . 
Iris ; 

Herald . 
Parricide 

Informer 
Prometheus 
Herakles 

Poseidon 

Tribatlos 

Third Messenger 
Basileia . : 
Leader of the Chorus 


CHARACTERS. 


Mr M. R. James, King’s College. 

Mr H. A. Newton, Magdalene College. 
Mr F, R. Pryor, Trinity College. 

Mr G. J. Maguay, Trinity College. 

Mr F. L. Nozagis, Trinity College. 

Mr A. C. Benson, King’s College. 

Mr J. D. Ouvay, Trinity Hall. 

Mr H. F. W. Tarnam, Trinity College. 
Mr F. B. Wrntunop, Trinity College. 
Mr L. N. Gurmemarp, Trinity College. 
Mr E. A. Garpner, Caius College. 

Mr J. D. Ouvsy, Trinity Hall. 

Mr F. BR. Pryor, Trinity College. 

Mr L. J. Maxss, King’s College. 

Mr F. B. Wuntunop, Trinity College. 
Mr A, Furewne JEnEM, Trinity College. 
Mr L. N. Gorutemarp, Trinity College. 
Mr H. J. C. Cust, Trinity College. 

Mr R. Ture rary, Caius College. 

Mr. R. W. Wuirt-THomson, King’s College. 
Mr H. F. W. Taruam, Trinity College. 
Mr J. D. Ovuvry, Trinity Hall. 

Mr KE. A. Garpner, Caius College. 

Mr §. M. Leatuss, Trinity College. 


CHORUS OF BIRDS. 


BLANDFoRD, W. H. Trinity College. 
Boris, W. H. D. King’s College. 
Coss, J. B. Emmanuel College. 
Dunn, A. T. B. Trinity College. 
Gort, C. R. Jesus College, 
Haxgrison, A. Christ’s College. 
Kynaston, W. H. St John’s College. 
Lanoz, E. M. Jesus College. 
Lanauam, F. G. Trinity Hall. 
Maguay, G. J. Trinity College. 
Mousarave, C, T. Trinity College. 
Siva, J. M. Christ’s College. 
Srasies, W. H. Trinity College. 
Summernayes, H. Emmanuel College. 
Txomas, P. A. King’s College. 
Wurrt-Tuomson, L. J. King’s College. 
Wuson Fox, H. Trinity College. 
Wixson, H. F. Trinity College. 


The Parabasis will be spoken by Mr C. Prarts, Trinity College, and 
the songs incidental to the part of the Hoopoe will be sung by Mr G. 


J. Maguay. 


Mr C. V. STanForpD. 


Mr CHARLES WALDSTEIN. 


Conductor of the Music 


Stage-manager 


THE BIRDS OF ARISTOPHANES. 





ACT I. 


Scene: @ wild tract, with bush and rock: a tree in the distance. 
Enter PErrHETAIRos and EvE.Pipes with slaves. The former 
carries @ crow, the latter a jay. 





Eu. RAIGHT, where the tree stands out—is 
that the track ? [To the jay. 
Pet. Plague take you! mine again is 

croaking back. 


Eu. Still up and down, old sinner, must we pace? 
’Twill kill us both, this vain way-weaving race. 
Pei. That I, poor wretch, believing in a crow, 5 
More than a thousand furlongs round should go! 
Ku. That I, bad luck! believing in a jay, 
Should knock my wretched toe-nails all away ! 
Pei. "Tis past my knowledge where on earth we stand. 
Eu, Could you from hence find out the fatherland? 10 
. Pe. That not e’en Exekestides could do. 


Eu, Woe, woe! 


Pet. That road, my friend, I leave to you. 





ACT I. 


ScENnE: a wild tract, with bush and rock: a tree in the distance. 
Enter PEITHETAIROS and EVELPIDES with slaves. The former 
carries a crow, the latter a jay. 


ET. ’ THP@OHN «Kerevers, 9 1d Sevdpov dalverar; 
| [Zo the jay. 





TIE]. Scappayeins' nde & ad xpodfer 





Tanw. 
ET. ri, @ wovnp, dvw Kato TraVUTTOLED ; 
atroNovpe? adrws Tv cddv mpopopoupévr, 
IIE]. +o & éué xopwvy mevOopevov tov dOd.ov 5 
ob00 qepteNOeiv orddia mel n xrLa. 
ET. 1d & eué Koroww weiBopevov tov Svapopov 
atTooTobncat Tovs dvyuxyas Tay SaxTUNOD. 


TIE]. aan’ ovd’ Srrov ys éopey 018 yay? ért. 


ET. évrevOevi tiv warpid dv éEevpots od tov; 10 
TIE]. ovS av pa A’ évyeredOev "EEnneotidns. 

ET. otpos. : 

ITEI. ov péev, ® Tay, THY OddV TavTny At. 


1—2 


ACT I. 


Eu. A scurvy trick he’s played us, he o’ the Birdmart, 
Philokrates the poulterer, in his craze: 
He said this pair would find for us the hoopoe; 15 
And so he sold this brat of Tharraleides, 
This jay, for twopence, and yon crow for sixpence ; 
But all the creatures knew was—how to peck. 
Now what do you gape at? somewhere down the rocks 9 
Do you propose to push us? here’s no road. [To the jay. 
Pei. Nor here, I vow; no vestige of a path. 
Hu. Your crow says something, doesn’t she, of the way ? 
Pei. Her croak is different from before, by Jove. 
Eu. But, pray, what says she of the road? 25 
Pei. ‘Tl maul 
And gnaw your fingers off,’ she says: that’s all. 
Eu. Now isn’t it monstrous hard that, when we want 
To go to the ravens, and are quite prepared, 
Yet after all we can’t find out the way? 
Know, gentles, ye that come to hear our plot, 30 
We're stricken with a certain malady, 
The opposite of that which Sakas has: 
He, no true citizen, is struggling in; 
While we, full-franchised both in tribe and clan, 
Citizens in the midst of citizens, 
With none to scare us, from our fatherland 


Flew out, as fast as both our feet could waft us; 38 





ET. 


TIE]. 
ET. 
TIEI. 
ET. 
ITE. 


ET. 


PROLOGOS. 2 


7 Seva vo SéSpaxev ovn TaY opvéwr, 

6 MivaxoT@Ans Piroxpatys peXa'yxKoAO?, 

Os THO EdhacKxe voV Ppdoev tov Tnpéa’ 1 

xamréSoto Toy pev @appareldou rovtovi 

KoNotov GBorod, tnvdedt tTpiwBdrov* 

to 8 ove ap qoTnv ovdey GAXo TrANnV Saxveuv. 

kat vov tl Kéynvas; of Srrot Kata Tov TeTpaV 20 

nas ér des; ov yap €or évradOa tis 

od0s. . [To the jay. 
ovde pa Al’ évradéa y dtpamos ovdapod. 

ti 8;  Kopevn Ths ddov TL Néyes TWépL; 

ov tavta Kpoler wa Ala viv te Kal Tore. 

ti Sn Aéyeu mepl THs dod; 25 

tS Drdoy yh  .. 

Bpvxovo” aéSecOat dynoi por rods SaxrvAous ; 

ov Sewov ovy Sy’ éoriv nuds Seopévous 

és xopaxas éeiv nal raperxevacpévous 

éresra pn “Eeupety Svvacbas thy dor; 

npets yap, wvdpes of Trapovtes ev NOye, | 30 

yooov vorodmev Thy évavtiay Yang" 

Oo bev yap ovK dy aotos éoRiaterat, 

nets Sé hur Kal yéver Tiumpevot, 

dotol pet aotav, od aoBodvtos ovdevds 


averrrouel” é« tHS tratpldos audoty toty modotv, 35 





ACT I. 


Not moved by hatred of that city’s self, 
- As ’twere not in its nature great and happy, 
And free to all alike—to pay their fines in: 
No, faith! cicalas for a month or two 
Are chirping on the shoots: Athenians ever 
Are chirping on the suits their lifetime through. 
Such are the reasons why we gang this gait: _ 
With sacred corbel, pot and: myrtle-sprays, 
We wander, seeking for a suitless spot, 
Where we may settle down and spend our lives, 
In short we're bound to Tereus’ court, the hoopoe ; 
From him we wish to learn, if such a city 
He e’er descried in any of his flights, 

Pet. Holloa, Sir! 

Eu. Well, what now? 

Pei. The crow some time 
Makes upward signs to me, 

Eu. Ay, and this jay 
Stares upward open-mouth’d as shewing me something. 
There must be birds, no question, hereabouts : 
But, if we make a noise, we soon shall know. 

Per. Til tell you what to do: just give the rock 
A. shin-stroke. . 

Eu. By all means; and you a head-stroke ; 
A double knock will make a double noise, 

Pei. Well, take a stone and strike. 


PON 


TEL. 


ET. 


IIEL 


ET. 


TIEI. 


ET. 


IIEI. 


PROLOGOS. 3 


QuTiY pey ov pucooyr’ éxelyny Ty Tod 
TO 7) Ov peyaAnv elvar dioe xevdaipova 
Kal wdot Kowny évatroticas ypnpara. 
ob ev yap ovv tértiyes Eva pnv’ 7 Svo 
ért trav xpadav ddovo’, "AOnvaics & aet 40 
ém) trav Sixav ddovet wavra tov Biov. 
Sua tadra tovde tov Badov Badilopuer, 
xavooy 5 éyovre xat yvUTpay Kal pupplvas 
Travaduela Cnrodvte TOTeY ampdypova, 
étrov KabidpvGévte Stayevolue? av. 45 
6 d€ otddos vey eats Tapa tov Typéa 
Tov éroma, trap éxeivou wvéabas Seopuévar, 
el wou TovavTny ede oA 9 WéTrTeTO. 
OUTOS. 
th éotw; 
 KOpwVN woe TWanat 
dvw te dpater. 50 
Xo KONOLOS OvTOC) 
advo Kxéynvev worepel Serxvus th pot, 
xovx 08 Sirs ovKn éorw évradl’ Spvea. 
eicopea § avrtix’, Hv tromowpev yoov. 
GX olof 6 Spdcov; te aoKxéder Deve rHv TéTpav. 
au 8 rh Keparg x, ’ 9 Sumdadavs 6 Wodos. 55 
av & ovv Alm Kdvrov AaBady. 


ACT I. 


Eu. I'll do your bidding. 
Boy, boy! 
Pei. What's that? you call the Hoopoe ‘boy’? 
Ought you not rather to cry ‘Hoopopoy ’? 
Ew Hoopopoy ! whooping once, it seems, won't do. 
Hoopopoy | 
Enter RuNNER-BIRD from the bush. 
Run. Who are these? Who calls my lord? 
Eu. Apollo guard us? what a monstrous yawn ! 
Run. Me miserable! they’re a brace of fowlers. 
Eu. But pr’ythee say, what animal are you? 
Run. I am a slave-bird. 
Eu. Did some cock defeat you? 
Run. Not so: but when my lord became a hoopoe, 
He prayed that I too might become a bird; 
So should he have a pursuivant and page. 
Eu. One bird then needs another for a page? 
Run. My master does, by reason, I suppose, 
That he was formerly a man; and so, 
When he would lunch upon Phalerian whitebait, 
I run to fetch him whitebait, dish in hand. 
Soup if he craves, ladle and pot are wanted: 
I run for a ladle. 
Eu, ’Tis the Runner-bird. 


70 


KT. 


ITEI. 


RT. 


TPO. 


ET. 


TPO. 


“ET. 


TPO. 


ET. 


TPO. 


ET. 


TPO. 


ET. 


PROLOGOS. 


, 9 > al 
qavu y, e Sorel. 


Twat Twat. 


s , @ ,) # A A 
TL NEYELS, OVTOS; TOV ETrOTTA Tral KaNELS ; 


ov« avtt rod maidcs o eyphy érrotrot Kaneiv; 
évromrot, Townes Tol we KOoTrTEeW avOis av. 
é7ro7rot. 

Enter RUNNER-BIRD from the bush. 

tlves odTot; tis 6 Bowv tov Seotrotny; 
"AmoAXov arrorpoTrate, TOU YaopnwaTos. 
olwot Taras, 6pyOo0Onpa TovTwl. 
atap od ti Onplov mor el mpds tav Bear; 
dps &yarye SovAos. 

nTrnOns TwWdS 
GNEKTPUOVOS ; 
oUx, GAN Ste wep oO Seomorns 

Ero éyéveto, ToTe yevéoOar pp nikaro 
cpvev, ty axdrovOov Suaxoveyv t éyn. 


Setras yap Spuis nat Scaxdvov ruvos ; 


odtés y Gr’ oluas mporepoy avOpwros Tor av’ 


Ore prev €pa dayely apvas hadnpixas, 

tpéxw “mr advas rAaBay eyo To tTpvBMov’* 
érvous 8 émuuped Set te topvyns Kal yvtpas, 
Tpexw “Wi TopvYNy. 


tpoyinos Spvus ovToci. 


60 


7° 


75 


ACT I. 


I'll tell you, Runner, what to do: go call 80 
Your master for us, 
Run. Nay, but he’s just gone 
To take a nap after a hearty meal 
- Of myrtle-berries, with a gnat or two. 
Eu, Well, wake him all the same. 
Run. I’m very. sure 
He'll be displeas’d, but for your sakes I'll wake him, 
[Hatt Runner-bird. 
Pei. Go and be hang’d, for frightening me to death. 5 
Eu. Woe’s me, unlucky wight! my jay too’s gone 
In terror. 
Pei. O you biggest of big cowards, 
Your fright it was allowed the jay to go. 
Hu, Pray didn’t you tumble down and loose the crow ? 


Pe. Not I, by Jove. | 90 
Eu. Where is she? 
Pet. Flown away. 


Hu. Oh, you didn’t loose her, bravest of the brave. 


The Hoopoe speaks from the bush. 
Hoo, Open the greenwood, that I may come forth. 


Enter Hoopor. 


Eu. Great Herakles! what animal is here? 


TPO. 


ET. 


PROLOGOS. 5 


laf” ovv 8 Spacov, & tpoyire; Tov Seotrorny 80 
piv KaNECoP. | 
GW’ dprlas v) rév Ala 
eldes xatadayav pipta Kal cépdous tuvas. 
Opws emréyetpoy avtov. 
olda pev cadas : 
OTe axyOécerar, choy S avrov ovvex’ émeyepa. 
[Lait Runner-bird. 
KAK@S OU ¥ GroXol, @S p aTréxrewas Séet. 85 
olwot Kakodaipmwy, yw KodoLOS polxyeTaL 
vme Tov Séous. 
@ Seiotarov av Onplov, 
Seicas adixas Toy KoXotov; 
elmré p01, 
ov dé thy Kopwvnv ovK adjnKas KaTatecwv ; 
pa AP ovK eywye. go 
mov yap éoT ; 
aTETTETO. 
ove dp adixas, wya®, ws avdpeios el. 
The Hoopoe speaks from the bush. 


dvovye thv Orv, ly é&éXOw core. 


Enter Hoopor. 


9 ¢ ; 
@® “Hpaxres, touti ti wor’ dort rd Onpiov; 


ACT I. 


What plumage this? what triple-crested fashion ? 
Hoo. Who are they that come to ane me? 9% 
Eu. The twelve gods— 
Seem to have smash’d you. 
Hoo. Strangers, do you flout me, 
, Because you see this plumage? I was once 
A man. 
Eu. We do not laugh at you. 
Hoo. What then ? 
ku. That beak of yours looks to us laughable. 
Hoo. Of course: such insult in his tragedies 100 
Does Sophokles inflict on me, the Tereus. 
Eu. You're Tereus, are you? bird or peacock, which? 
Hoo. A bird am L 
Eu. Where are your feathers, then? 
Hoo. They’ve fallen off. 
Lu. Was that from some disease ? 
Hoo. No: in the winter all birds moult their feathers, 105 


And then again we fledge another set. 


But tell me what you twain are. 


Eu. Mortals we. 
Hoo. Your native country? 
Eu. Whence the gallant triremes. 


Hoo. Heliasts, are you? 


EI. 
ET. 


EIT. 


ET. 
EIl. 
ET. 
EI. 


ET. 
EII. 
ET. 
EII. 
ET. 
EIT. 


ET. 
EI. 
ET. 
KIT. 


PROLOGOS. 6 


tls 4 wrépwots; Tis 6 Tpomos THS TpLAOPIas ; 
9 , 3 e A 
thes etot po ot Enrovvtes; 95 
ot Swoexa Geol 
elEaow érutpipal ce. 
pav pe oKwIrreToY 
ea \ , 2 , 2 , 
opwvTe THY Tréepwow; 1 yap, @ EEeva, 
avOpwrros. 
9 A A 
ov JOU KaTayeX\wper. 
avXa Tov; 
TO papdos nuiv cov yéAovoy dhalverar. 
TowaiTa pevrot Lopoxréns Avpalveras 100 
év tais tpaypdiacw éue tov Tnpéa. 
Tnpeds yap el ov; métepov puis 4} Taas; 
Spyies eyarye. 
® a s 
KGaTa Tov cot Ta TTEpa; 
éEeppunxe. 
Ly e \ a / 
Worepov vTd vorou TLS; 
9 9 A a , v 
OUK, GANA TOV XeLava TWdavTa TwpVvEea 105 
mTepoppvel, Kat avOis Erepa dvopev. 
GXN' eltraTov pot oho Tiv’ eorov; 
vo; Spore. 
qwodaTw TO yéevos 8; 
Oey ai Tpunpers al Kadai. 


a Xr f . 
pov nAvacTa; 


. ACT I. 


Eu. No, the other sort, 
Heliast-haters, 110 
Hoo. Is that seed sown there? 


Eu. A sprinkling you may gather off the field. 
Hoo. But, pray, what object come you here in quest of? 
Hu. An interview with you. 
Hoo. . Upon what business? 
Eu. Seeing that, first, you once were man, like us, 
Once money owed to creditors, like us, 115 
Once gladly shirk’d repaying it, like us; 
Next, changing to the nature of the birds, 
You flew about o’er land and sea, and all 
The feelings both of man and bird are yours, 
Therefore we're hither come as suppliants to you, 120 
To see if you can shew us some snug city, 
Soft as a blanket to lie down and snooze in. 
Hoo. A greater city seek you than the Kranaan ? 
Eu. Not greater, no; but nicer for ourselves. 
Hoo. You seek an aristocracy, that’s clear. 125 
fu. Not I: and Skellias’ youngster makes me sick. 
Hoo. What kind of city would you choose to dwell in? 
Hu. One where my greatest troubles should be these: 


ET. 


EI. 


ET. 
KII. 


ET. 


RII. 
ET. 


EII. 
ET. 
KIl. 
ET. 


KIT. 
ET. 


PROLOGOS. | 


Parra Oarépov rpdrrov, 
9 a, 
aTnNacTa. 110 
‘Q a 3 >: a . 
omelpetat yap tout éxet 
\ , a 
TO o7répp ; 
oAityov Enrav av e& aypod rNaBows. 
mpayous Sé &) Tov Seouévw Sedp’ nrAGErnv ; 
cot EuyyevécOa. Bovropéva. 
7 
Tivos Wépt; 
é7t pata pev no avOpwres woTep vw troté, 
Kapyvptov wdelaAnaas domep vw tote, 115 
Kovx amrodibovs éyaspes dowep vo Tore’ 
elr’ avis dpvidwy petadrakas puow © 
kal ynv érémrov Kal Oddatray ev KUKr@, 
\ 
kai Trav? bcamTep dvOpwiros boa 7’ Spvis ppoveis: 
a? ea e /} \ \ an 9 bd , 
TavT ovv ixéta vw mpos oé Sedp adiypeda, 120 
wv é , ea Ww 
el Tia ToAW dpaceias nul evepov 
ef ee 2 a , 
@oTEp sliovpay éyxaTaKdwwhvar padOaKny. 
érecta pellw tov Kpavadv Cnreis rroduw; 
pella pev ovdév, mpocdopwrépav Sé var. 
aptotoxpateiabat Synros ei Enrav. . 125 
2 4 
eyo; 
Kota’ Kab TOV YKEANov BdeAUTTOMAL. 
jolay tw’ ovv Hd.iot av oixolrny TToALy; 


Orrov Ta péyloTa mpaypat ein pou Tadi’ 


ACT I. 


Some friend should seek my door at morning tide, 
And say, ‘By Zeus Olympius I beseech, 

You and your children take an early bath, 

And visit me: I give a wedding breakfast ; 

Don’t think of saying no, or, if you do, 


Never approach me, when my fortunes ebb.’ 


130 


Hoo. Poor fellow, what afflictions you’re in love with! 135 


Well, there’s a city such as you describe, 
Favoured of fortune, on the Red-sea coast. 

Eu. Ah! name it not: no seaside place for us, 
Where sudden, some fine morning, will pop up, 
Carrying a summoner, the Salaminia. 

But what’s the style of living with the birds? 
You know it well, no doubt. 

Hoo. Not disagreeable 
For daily wear and tear: to take an instance, 

You have to live without a purse. 

Eu. Good riddance 
Of one of life’s most palpable corruptions ! 

Hoo. We feed in gardens on white sesame-grains, 
On myrtle-berries, poppy-seed, and water-mint. 


Eu. Then ’tis a life of bridegrooms that you lead. 


Pei. Huzza! huzza! 
I spy a great design, I really do, 
Within the scope of birds to frame, and power 
To work it out, if you will only take 
My counsel. 
Hoo. Take what counsel ? 


v 


145 


155 


160 








PROLOGOS. 8 


él tnv Gipay pov wpm Tis eNov Tay dirwv 
Aéyor Tadl* ampds tod Acds TovAvpTio”V 130 
Saws wapéoces pot Kat od Kal ta tradla 
Novodueva pe’ péAAW yap éoTLay ydpous: 
Kal pndayas GrXA(ws Troimons’ et Sé wn, 
pn pol mor EXOns, Stray eyo TpdtTw KaKas. 
EY. @& Setraxpiwy od trav Kandy olwy épas. 135 
Gtap got vy orrolay AéyeToy evdalpwv wédd«sS 
mapa tv épvOpayv Odrarrav. 145 
ET. oluoe pndamas 
Huty ye tapa Oararray, iv’ dvaxvyperat 
KAnTHp ayous Ewer 4 carapvia. 
ovtos 5é 8) tls oP 6 per opvidwr Blos; 155 
ov yap olc®& axpiBas. | 
EIT. ovK ayapis és thy TpLBnv’ 
od mpara pev Set Env dvev Baddartiov. 
ET. oddnv x adetres tod Biov KuBdnr/Lav. 
EIT. vepopeba 8 ev xno ta NevKa onocapa 
Kal pupta Kal pnKkova Kal ovcvpPpra. 160 
ET. cypeis pev dpa Snre vuudiwrv Blov. 
IIEI. ged ded- 
4 péy evopd Bovrevp év dpvidwv yéve, 
kat Sivamw 7H yévoir av, et TiBowOé por. 


EI]. tf coe ridape? ; 


ACT I. 


Pe. What? why first 

Cease flying all about with open bills. 165 
Hoo. What must we do, then? 
Pe. | Found a single city. 


Hoo. What sort of city could we found, we birds? 
Pe. So, so? you speaker of the silliest speech, 
Look down. 178 
Hoo. I’m looking, 
Pei. Now look up. 
Hoo. I do. 
Pei. Now turn your neck about, 
Hoo. A pretty gain 
"Twill be, forsooth, if I’m to wring my neck. 
Pe. Did you see something? 
Hoo. | Yes; the clouds and sky. 
Pei. These constitute, I think, the site of birds. 
But, settled once, and fortified by you, 
Instead of ‘site’ they shall be term’d ‘a city.’ 
So will ye rule o’er men as over locusts, 186 
And wear the gods to death with Melian famine. 
Hoo, How so? 
Pei. The air’s midway, methinks, from earth : 
And just as, if we want to visit Delphi, | 





We ask Boeotians for a passage through, | 





HEI. 


EIT. 
TEI. 
EI. 
IITEI. 


EII. 
ITEI. 
EIT. 
ITE]. 
EIT. 


ITE]. 
BIT. 
IIEI. 


KIT. 
TIEI: 


PROLOGOS. 


& te wibncbe; mpaTa jev 
un wepiméreaOe traytayn Keynvores. 
Ti oUy ToLapep ; 
3. hs Ld ‘ 
OLKiCaTE pilav oN. 
wolay § dv oixicaiev Spyies modu ; 
arnbes; @ oxatotatov eipnxads étros, 
Brepov Kato. 
kat 5n Brérro. 
A A bod 
| Brérre viv ava. 
4 
Breérro. 
meplaye TOV TpaynNov. 
vn Ala 
atroNavaopai robs, ef Svactpadjoopar. 
eldés te; 

Tas vedéXas ye Kai Tov ovpavov. 
avy ovTos ovy Sytrov ‘oti dpvidwy TéXos ; 
qv 8 otxlonte tovro cal ppakn® araék, 

? A 4 , s / 
€x TOU TroXNOU ToUTOU KEKANCETAL TONS. 
it 3 wv 3 eb : 4 v4 / 
wot apter avOpdmav pev woTEep TapVvoTMD, 
tovs 8 av Geodvs azroreire AO pNrALp. 
TOS ; 

év péow Syntovley anp éott yis. 
el@ domep nucis, nv tévac BovrAdpcba 
IIv@aSe, Botwrods Slodov aitrovpeba, 

2—2 


165 


175 


185 


ACT I. 


Even so, whene’er men sacrifice to gods, 190 
Unless the gods agree to pay you tribute, 
You'll not let savoury meat-steams pass your way. 
Hoo. Bravo! bravo! 
By earth, by snares, by gins, by nets, I never— 
No, never did I hear a prettier notion : 196 
So with your help the city will I found, 
Consent being given by the other birds, 
Pei. Who will expound the matter to them? 
Hoo. You shall : 
For, though they were a barbarous race before, 
I taught them language, living with them long. 200 
Pei. How then can you convoke them ? 
Hoo. Easily. 
I'll enter here at once into the bush, 
And after I’ve aroused my nightingale, 
We'll call them. If they do but hear our voice, 
They'll run full speed. ' 905 
Pe. Then stay not, dearest bird, 
But, I beseech you, go into the bush 
This instant, and arouse the nightingale. | 
[The Hoopoe enters the bush and chants. 


Hoo. Cease, my mate, from slumber now ; 


Let the sacred hymn-notes flow, 310 


Ell. 


ITEI. 
EI. 


TEI. 
EII. 


IIEI. 


EII. 


PROLOGOS. 


oUTws, Stay Oucwow avOpwrrot Geois, 
nv pn popoy dépwow viv ot Oeol, 
tay pnplwyv riv xvicay ov Siadpycerte. 
iod tod" 
pa ynv, pa mayidas, wa vedédras, wa Sixrva, 
Hn yo vonua Koprpdrepoy FKxovea rw’ 
@or dv Kxarouxifoums peta cod thy Tod, 
ei Evvdoxoln Totcw Grows Gpvéoss. 
tly av ody 1O pay avrots Sunynoaro; 
ov. 

éya ydp avrovs BapBapous Gyras mpo Tod 
édiSaka rhv dwvynv, Evvwv modvy ypovov. 
mas ont av auvtovs Evyxanrécetas ; 

padlos. 
Seupt ydp éoBas avtixa pdr’ és rhv rAdypnr, 
éreit aveyelpas thy éunv anddova, | 
Kadodpev avtovs’ of 5é vev tod PbéypaTos 
davrep éraxovowor Oevoovtar Spopw. 


@ pidtat dpvlOwy av, wn voy éorabe’ 


10 


190 


195 


200 


205 


GN’, avTiBorw a, ay’ ws Tayiot és THY AOXMHY 


bd 9 # N > a 
éxBawe Kavéyerpe trHv anddva, 


[The Hoopoe enters the bush and chants. 


ef 
Gye, ouvvopé pot, wadoas péev Urvon, 


Adcov Se vdpous lepdy duver, 


210 


ACT I, 


Watling with thy voice dwwine 
Long-wept Itys, mine and thine. 
So, when thy brown beak is thrilling 
With that holy music-trilling, 
Through the woodbine’s leafy bound 
Swells the pure melodious sound 216 
To the throne of Zeus: and there 
Phoebus of the golden hair, 
Hearing, to thime elegies 
With the awaken’d chords replies 
Of his wory-claspéd lyre, ~* 
Sturring all the Olympian quire; 
Tul from each vmmortal tongue 
. Of that blessed heavenly throng 220 
Peals the full harmonious song. 
[Music is played, imitating the notes of the nightingale. 
Eu, O royal Zeus! that bird’s voice! what a flood 
Of honey did it stream o’er all the wood! 
Pe. Holloa, Sir! 


Eu. Well, what now? 
Pei. Be silent. 
Eu. Why ? 236 


Pe. The Hoopoe frames another melody, 
Hoo. Lpopopopopopopopopopopopopoi ! 
Holloa ! holloa! what ho! what ho! 
Hither haste, my plume-partakers ; 
Come many, come any 
That pasture on the farmer’s well-sown acres, 280 


ASMA I. 11 


ods Sia Oeiov ordpuartos Opnveis 

roy éuov xal oov troAvdaxpuv “Iruy' 

drerulopevns 5 iepois péreouy 

yevuos Eov8is 

xaBapa ywpet Sia PvdAdoKopov a15 
opiranos nx mpds Ards pas, 

ly’ 6 xpucoKdpas DoiBos axovav 

trois cots éXéyous avripaddwv 

édehavrdderov hoppvyya Oedv 

lornat yopovs’ Sia 8 abavatov 

oTopatwov ywpet Evppwvos pod 220 


Oela paxdpwv crorvy7. 


[Music is played, imitating the notes. of the nightingale. 


ET. 


TIED. 
ET. 
IIEI. 
ET. 
TIKI. 
ETI, 


& Zed Bacirted, tod POéypatos tovpyiOlov' 
oloy KaTepeXitace THY AOXNY SAND. 
ovros. 
vl éorw; 
OU GLWTrHCEL; 

vi Sai; 235 
ovrow perwdeiy ad mapackevaterau. 
ETOTOTOTOTOT OTM OTTOT OTOL, 

id id itd ite ite ito, 
ira Tis mde TOY euav cpoTTépwr’ 


dcou T EevoTrOpoUs aypoikwy yuas 230 


ACT I. 


Tribes countless that on barley feed, 
And clams that gather out the seed ; 
Come, alert upon the wing, 

Dulcet music uttering : 

Ye that oer the furrowed sod 

Twitter upon every clod, 

Making all the ar rejoice 

With your soft and slender voice : 
Two, tio, tio, tro, tio, tio, tio, tio. 

Ye that feast on garden fruits, 
Nestling ’midst the wy shoots : 

Ye that all the mountains throng, 
Oliwe-croppers, arbute-loppers, 

Haste and fly to greet my song. 
Trioto, trioto, totobria | 

Ye that o’er the marshy flats 

Swallow down the shrill-mouthed gnats ; 
Ye that hawnt the deep-dew’d ground 
Marathon’s sweet meads around, 

Ouzel, and thou of the speckled wing, 
Hazelhen, hazethen, speed while I sing. 
Come mamy, come any 

With the halcyon brood that sweep 
Surges of the watery deep, 

Come and list to novel words, 

Which to hear, from far and near 

We gather all the tribes of neck-extending birds. 
Here is arrwed a sharp old man 

Of revolutionary mind, 

To revolutionary deeds inclined : 





ASMA II, 12 


veperOe, hddra pupla xpiWorpaywv 

oTreppwodoywv Te yévn 

Tayd Teropeva, parOaxny iévta ynpuv' 

doa t évy ddoxt Sapa 

Ba@rov apdetittuBle? ade Nemrov 235 
adopéva povd' | 

TL TLO TLO TLO TL TO TLO TLO. 

doa O vay Kata KyTrous émt Kiccod 

KNGdect vopoy Exel, | 

Ta Te KaT épea Fa TE KOTWOTpaya Ta Te KOoMapodaya, 
avucarTe Teropweva pds éuay aoday’ 241 
TptoTo TptoTo ToToBpie’ 

of & édXeias map avAadvas o€vaoTopmous 

éumldas xamre?, dca tT evdpocous yns ToToUs 245 
dyere Aepava t époevta Mapabavos, dp- 

vis Wrépwy TouKidos Tt atTayas atraryas. 

dy 7 él wovtiov oldpa Oaracons 250 
gira per arKvoverot ToTHTAL, 

Seip tre wevodpevor Ta vewTepa, 

mavra yap évOddg pdr aOpoitopev 

oiwvayv Tavaodelpwv. 

Hes yap tis Spupvs mpéaBus 255 
KaLVvoS YyVapny | 


Kawav Epywv tT éyyeupnTns. 


Pe. 
Ku. 


ACT I, 


Come all, and listen to his plan. 

Hither, hither, hither, hither, 

Torotorotorotorotiz, 260 
Kikkabau Iikkabau, 

Torotorotorotorolililix. 

See you some bird? 


By Apollo, no, not I: 


Yet all agape I’m gazing on the sky. 


Pet. 


So then the Hoopoe went into the wood, 265 


And mocked the curlew’s screaming for no good. 
Bird (entering). Torotix torotix. 


Pet. 


Eu. 


Pet. 


Hoo. 


Nay, my friend; this very moment here’s a bird 
approaching close. , 
Ay, by Jove! what bird, I wonder? ‘Tis a peacock, 


I suppose. 
Our obliging friend will tell us. What's this bird, Sir? 
kindly say. 270 


"Tis not one of those accustomed sorts you're seeing 


every day, 


But a lake-bird. 


Eu. 


Hoo. 


O the beauty! What a brilliant tint of flame! 
And a very proper colour, for ‘flamingo’ is its name. 
Holloa, you Sir! 
What d’ye bawl at? 
Here’s another coming now. 
Yes, another bird, and ‘holding an uncommon site,’ 
I vow. [A second bird enters. 278 


Pray, Sir, what is that absurd delicate-treading muse-seer bird ? 


Hoo. 


Medus is its native title. 


PARODOS. 13 


GXX ir és Aoyous arravta, 

Seipo Seipo Sedpo Sedpo. 

TopoTopoToporopoTi€. : 260 
xuxkaBad KixcxaBad. 


TopoTopoTopoTopoNtAtALE. 


TIEI. opds tev’ pv; 

ET. — pa tov “AmodAdw yo péev ov' 
xaltou Kéynva y és Tov ovpavov Brérrov. 

TIEI. Gddws dp’ ovtroy, ws our’, és thy AOXuNY 265 
éuBds ér@le yapadpicy pipovpevos. 

OPNIS ropotifé roporié. [Entering. 

TIE]. aya, GAN ody ovrocl xal 8 tis Spws Epxerat. 

ET. v1) Ad épus S9ra. tis wor éotiv; od Syrov Taas; 

IIEI. odros avros vev dpace’ tis éotw spvis ovtoal; 270 

EII. odros ov trav nOddmv tavd’ dv 6pad’ vpeis dei, 
GNA ALpvaios. 

ET. BaBai Kxaros ye nal dorvixsods. 

EIT. etxorws ye" xal yap dvou’ atte ‘orl dowwixorrepos. 

ET. ovtos, & oé Tou, 

TIEI. tt Bwortpeis ; 

ET. Erepos dpvis ovtoci. 


TIEI. vy AL repos Syra yovros acai yopav eyo. 275 


EIT. 


| A second bird enters. 
tls mot’ tof 6 povadpavris atotros Gpvis aBpoRdrns ; 


dvopa tovtm Mrdos éore. 


ACT I. 


Eu. Medus? MHerakles the king! 
Flying in without a camel! Could a Mede do such a thing? 
Enter the Cuorvs of Birds. 

Pei. O Poseidon! what a plaguy lot of birds are gather’d 
here ! 
Don’t you see? 295 
Eu. O king Apollo, what a cloud! O dear! O dear! 
For their flying now no more can we see the entrance-door. 
Hoo. Here’s an owl. [Introducing the Coryphaeus. 
Pet. What's this you tell me? Who to 
Athens brought an owl? 
Hoo. Pye and turtle, lark and pigeon, goatsucker and 
guinea-fowl, 
Hawk and falcon, cushat, cuckoo, redshank, redpole, come in 
view, 
Gannet, kestrel, diver, osprey, flycatcher, and woodchat too. 
Eu. Merrily, merrily come the birds, merrily conte the 
blackbirds all : 805 
What a twittering! what a fluttering! what variety of squall ! 
Don’t they threaten us? I fear so: sure with yawning beaks 


they blink, 
And on you and me are staring. 
Pew. You are right, I really think. 
Cho. Wh--- wh--- wh--- wh--- where is he summon’d me? 
in what region feedeth he ? 810 
Hoo. Here am I long time expecting: from my friends I 
never flee. 
Cho. T--- t--- t--- t--- tell me, pray, what to-day friendly 
word have you to say? 815 


Hoo. One that’s safe and just and pleasant and of public 
use, you'll find: 





ET. 


TIKI. 


ET. 


EIT. 


IIE. 


EIT. 


ET. 


TIKI. 


XO. 


EII. 
XO. 


EI. 


PARODOS. 14 


Mijdos; dvak ‘Hpdxress. 


A ” § Cal aA > =? 
elra mas avev Kaunrou Midos wv eicértero; 


Enter the CHorus of Birds. 


@ IIcaedov, ovy opas ocov cuvetNextat Kaxov 
Cpvéwy ; 295 
avat “ArroAXov, Tod védous. iov tod, 
ovd idety er eof Ur’ avtav tetropévarv thy elcodov. 
avrni ye yrave. [Introducing the Coryphaeus. 
Ti dys; tis yAaiK’ "AOnval Fyayev; 
xirta, tpvyev, Kopudds, édeds, vrroOupis, mepirrepa, 
véptos, iépak, parta, coxKvE, épvOporous, xeBAnrrupis, 
mwoppupls, Kepyvns, xodupBls, auteris, dyvn, Spvow. 
29 \ 9A a 2 +f 2s 9 Qy a / ; 
LOU LOU TOV OpVvEewy, lov lov TaY KoYriyov 305 
ola wimmlfover Kat Tpéyovor StaKxexparyores. 
dp’ atrevNovoly ye v@v; oluat, Keyhvaciv yé ToL 
kat Brérovow és oé xapé. 
fe] \ 3 “ 
TovTo mev Kapot Soxel, 
fe) 9 47 FF A > 7? / 

qomomomotroTomol pb ap os éxarece; tiva ToToV 

dpa véwerat ; 310 
ovToo! Wadat Trapeypt KOUK atrooTaTa didwy. 


TiTiTLTUTLTUTUTIVa AGYOV dpa ToTé mpdos ewe dlrov 


Exon ; 315 
‘ 


Kowov acdary Sixaov ndvv wdernoipov. 


ACT I. 


Here are two men come to see me, schemers both, of subtle 


mind, 


Cho. Where? which way? what do you say? 


Hoo. 


Two old men are come, I answer, hither from the 
Isle of Man: 820 


And they bring a business with them, solid, of enormous span. 
Cho. O you worst of all offenders since I first began to 


feed, 


What do you tell me? 


Hoo. 
Cho. 
Hoo. 


Cho. 
Hoo. 
Cho. 
Hoo. 


Cho. 


Don’t be frighten’d. 
What is this unfriendly deed ? 
I’ve receiv’d two men, enamoured of a social league 
with you. 
So you’ve really gone and done it? 925 
Ay, and very gladly too. 
And are they now somewhere near us? 
Yes, if I am near to you. 
Alas, alas! betrayed are we, 


Treated with vmprety - 

He who was our friend, who feeds 

Near us mm our common meads, 830 
All our ancient rules forsaking, 

All the oaths of birds 18s breaking ; 

Lures me to a treacherous place, 

Sells me to am wmpious race, 

Which was ever unto me 

Bred in mortal enmity, 

Since it first began to be. $85 


But we shall proceed to reckon with the bird another day ; 
For these two old men, I'd have them now the penal forfeit 


pay; 


XO. 
EII. 


XO. 


EIT, 
XO. 
EII. 
XO, 
EIT. 
XO, 


 KII. 


XO. 


PARODOS. 15 


avSpe yap NeTT@ codiota Seip’ adiyOov ds epé. 
Tov; Ta; TAS Pys; 
ony’ an avOpdrwv agiyOar Sedpo mpecButa Sv0' 320 
nKerov 5 éxovte mpéuvov Tpadyparos werwplov. 
3 péysorov éEapaprav é€ brov ‘rpddny eyo, 
Teas Néyets ; 
pnre hoBnOns tov Aoyov. 
Ti eipyaco ; 
avip édeEaunv épacta rhode ris Evvovelas. 
Kad dSéSpaxas todto Tovpyov ; 325 
kat Sedpaxas y’ Hdopau. 
Kaorov On Tov Tap nui; | 
et Trap vpiv ely’ eye. 
éa éa, 
mpodcdoued avdoid r émdabopuer' 
ds ydp dlros jv opotpoda 7 piv 
évéwero media Tap piv, 330 
mapéBn pév Oecpors apyatous, 
mapéBn S dpxous dpvidar' 
és 5é Sodov éxddrcoe, mapéBaré 1 ewe rapa 
yévos avoctov, bmep e&dr’ éeyéver’ em’ éewor 
ToNeutov ETPAdn. 335 
GNA pos TodTOY pev july éotw ULorepos NéOyos' 


To Sé mpecBita Soxet wot Twde Sodvar viv Slenv 


ACT I, 


And be torn in pieces by us. 
Pei, There! all’s up with us, soa Bee. 
Hu. Yes, and you alone must answer for our dire calamity. 
For what purpose did you lead me thence? 840 
Pet. . That you might follow me. 
Eu. Nay, that I might cry my eyes out. 
Pe. Pack of nonsense that about 
Crying ; how are you to do it when your eyes.are once torn out? 
Cho. Ho! forward! march, advance the deadly warlike charge: 
Throw out both wings, and to outflank, our front 
enlarge: 345 
Since the twain must weep and cry, 
And pasture to the beak supply. 
For nor shady mountain lavr, 
Nor the cloud that sails in av, 
Nor amy depth of hoary sea 350 
May shelter them escaped from me, 
So let us delay no longer both our foes to tear and bite ; 
- Where’s the general of division? let him straight lead on our 


right. 
Eu. Tis the crisis: whither wretched can I fly? 
Pe, What, won't you stay? 
Eu. To be torn in pieces by them? 855 


. Pet. Can you then invent a way 








IIEI. 
ET. 


TEL. 
ET. 


IIEI. | 
Kapta® ToS KAavoe yap, nv araé ye rodpOaryod 


xo. 


ET. 
IIE]. 
ET. 
IIE, 


PARODOS. . 16 


SiahopnOfval & ud’ nudv. 
os atwonroper? dpa. 

airs pévTot od vov el TWY KaKaY TOUT@Y pOVOS. 

> a U > 9» A 9 

él ti yap gm éxeiOev hres; se 340 
iy’ axorovOolns époi. 

Cs A 9 , Ud ; 

Lva [Lev OUY KAGOLWLL peyana. 


” : \ a # 
TOUTO pLev ANPELS EXOD 


"KKOTTS 5 

id io, 

Gray’ émiO éridepe troXéwtov 

6pyav ghoviav, wrépvyd Te TavTa , | 345 

mwepiBare tept te KUKAwoal’ 

ws Seb TAS oipolew aud 

wal Sotvar papde popBav. 

ovTe yap Spos axtepov ovTe védos aiPéptov 

oUTe TroALoy TédXayos éoTi 6 Te SéEeTar . 350 

TWO atropuyovTe pe. 

GANA pn péArwpmev 75n TwWdE TlAXELY = Saxveuv. 

mov ‘o8 6 takiapyos; émayérw TO SeE voy Képas. 

tobr éxeivo’ trot duyw Svarnvos ; | 

OUTOS, ov peEvets ; 

iy’ umd trovtwv duadopnGe ; ggg 

| ToS yap ay TovTous Soxeis 


3 


~ACT I, 


To escape ? 

Eu. I know none. 

Pei. Then I'll tell you how to manage it: 
We must make a standing fight, and take some pots from out 

our kit. 

Eu. And what good’s a pot to do us? 

Pew. This the owl will not molest. 

Eu, But for these crooktalon’d wretches ? 

- Pet. Grasp the spit, and let it rest 

In your front full firmly planted. 860 

Eu. For the eyes what must be done ? 


Pei. Take a saucer or a platter out, and tie it tightly on. 
Eu. O you cleverest of commanders, all your plan is well 
design’d ; 
In the art of engineering you’ve left Nikias far behind. 
Cho. Eleleleu, quick march, present the beak; no moment 
for delay : 
Haul ’em, tear ’em, smite ’em, flay ’em, striking first the pot 


away. 365 
Hoo, Vilest of the brute creation, tell me, would you slay 
and skin 
Two men who have never harm’d you, of my lady’s tribe and 
kin ? 
Cho. Spare them? spare the wolves then: can we punish 
a more hostile kind ? . 370 
Hoo. Hostile if they are by nature, yet they bear a friendly 
mind, | . 


And the tale they’re come to tell you profitable you will find. 

Cho. Can it be then to our profit, any tale by these men 
told, 3 

Any lesson of their teaching, foemen to my sires of old? 275 


ET. 
IIEI. 


ET. 
TIEI. 
ET. 
IIEI. 
ET, 
TEI. 
ET. 
XO, 


EII. 


XO. 


KIL, 


XO. 


PARODOS. 17 
exuyety ; 
ove ol0 Sarws av. 
GAN éyw Toe aol Aéya, 
Ort pévovte Set payerOar AawBavew te TaV yUTpOV. 
té 88 yuTpa vo y aderdnoes ; 
yravk pev ov mpdceos vev. 
rots Sé yaprpovuks toud/; 
tov oBerloxoy adptracas 
elra xatamntov impo cavtod. 360 
totat © opOarpoics zi; 
ofBadov évrevOevt mpocdod AaBov 4 TpvBALOv. 
& cofwrar’, ev yap nipes avTd.xat orparnyixas’ 
vmepaxovrifas ov y’ 78n Nixiay tais pnyavais. 
ddeered, yoper, nabes rd paydos* od pédrrewy eypap. 
Erne, TlAXe, trate, Setpe, ore MpwTHV THY KUTPAY. 365 
eimé pot, Ti péAXET, O TravTwY KaxLoTAa Onpiwr, 
amronéoat traQdvres ovdéy dvdpe Kat Svacracat 
THS euns yuvatxos ovre Evyyevn xal pudérta ; 
hecopecOa yap te Tavde paAdAov nuels 7 AVKOD; 
n tivas tTicaiwe Adrovs TaVd ay éyOlovs Ett; 370 
olde Thy prow pev exOpot rov Sé vodv eiow diror, 
cal Sidakovtés te Seip’ Arovow duds ypnopov. 
mwas & dv old yas te xpnowmoyv Sidakedy mote 
1 ppacetay, dvtes éxyOpot Toios wWamroes Tots Ewots ; 375 


3—2 


ACT I. 


Hoo. Much instruction do the wise gather from their 
enemies : ; 
‘Good precaution’s sure salvation’: this from friends you never 


learn ; 
But your foeman puts the screw on, and ’tis taught you to 
a turn. | a 
Foes, not friends, instructed nations fortresses and fleets to 
| make : 
And this lesson saves their children, homes, and all they have 
at stake. _ 830 


Cho. Well, indeed, in my opinion, giving audience to 
their speech 

May be useful to begin with : something wise a foe may teach. 

Pe. Now their wrath they seem to slacken; 80 retire a 


step or two. [ Aside to Euelpides. 
Hoo. What you said is common justice, and your thanks 
to me are due. [Z'o the Chorus. 

Cho. Ne’er on any other question have we been opposed 

to you. [Zo the Hoopoe. 38 

Pei. They’re more peaceful than before; so the pot and 
dishes lower : [As before. 

For the spear (I mean the spit), we must still be holding it, 
As we pace the encampment, peeping 300 


O’er the kettle’s rim, and keeping 
Good look-out: we must not fly. 
Cho. Now again your steps retrace ; 
Wheel into your former place: _ 40 
Stooping there in hoplite fashion 
Ground your temper next your passion, 
That by inquiry we may find 
Whence come this pair, ‘and with what mind. 405 


KIT. 


XO. 


IIEI. 


XO. 


PARODOS. 18 
arr’ at’ éxOpav Sra Tworrd pavOdvovew of codui. 
n yap evAaBea oodfer tavta. rapa pev ovv dirov 
ov pabos av To08’, 6 & eyOpds evOds éEnvayxacev, 
autiy’ ai modes trap avdpav Euabov éxOpav cod dirav 
éxrrovety 0 trpnra telyn vais re exticbar paxpas. 
To 5é paOnua TrovTo cater mraidas, olxov, ypnuata. 380 
” A , 3 A A e ec a a 
ort wev AOYOY aKodoaL TpwToV, ws Huiv SoxKel, 

4 ‘ 4 ee. v 9 \ a 9. a t 
xpnotwov' pabois yap ay TL Karo Tav éyOpav codov. 


olde THs opyns yaNav el~acww. ava’ él aKédos. 
ees to beirea heed 
éal Sixaroy y éatl xdpol Sef véwew vpas yapuv. 


[Zo the Chorus. 
GANG pv ovd AAO Gol TH Tpayp evnvTidpeda. 385 
[Zo the Hoopoe. 
paAXoy eipnvnv ayovot v7) A’, aoTe THY yUTpaY 
Td Te TpuBArALw KaGler’ [As before. 
kat TO Sopu ypy, tov oBedloxon, 
wepiTrarely &yovtas nas 
Trav otdwy évTos, Tap avTHV 390 
T™Y XUTpay aKpav opavTas 
fois ¢ 9 4 A 
éyyus’ ws ov devxteov vor. 
dvay és takw tmadw és ravtor, 400 


Kad Tov Oupdoy xatafou Kivpas 

Tapa THY opynv waomep omAlTNS 
3 c Ul iy \ 

kavaTrv0ope0a tovade tives Tote 


f 
kat wcOev Xuorov rim tr érruvoig. 403 


ACT I. 


Sir Hoopoe, you I call: what ho! 
Hoo. What does your calling seek to know? 
Cho. Who are these? whence come they? tell us. 
Hoo, Strangers both from clever Hellas, 
Cho. To the birds: what fortune brings ’em ? 410 
Hoo. Love of birds and birdlife stings ’em. 
Dwellers with you they would be, 
Ever of your company. 415 
Cho. What's this story that you tell? 
What proposals do they make? 
Hoo, Incredible, incredible, 
Far too large for ears to take. 
Cho. His proposals unto me 
Bid him utter, utter, 
Listening to the tale, you see, 
Sets me all a-flutter. 
Hoo. Now you and you this panoply take back 435 
And hang it up, in prospect of good luck, 
Within the kitchen by the plate-rack’s side. 
And you, Sir, make the statements, which to hear 


I summon’d these: expound. [To Petthetatros. 
Pet. Not I, by Apollo! 
Unless they make the covenant with me, “40 


Which with his wife that ape the sword-wright made, 


KIT. 


XO. 
KII. 
XO. 


KII. 


HEL 


PARODOS. 19 


id Grow oé ToL KANO. 
Kanes S€ ToD KAvVew Oédov3 
tives moO olde Kar mobev ; 
Elva cops ad’ ‘EXXddos. 
Tuxn 5é tola Kopl- 410 
Ces wot avT@ mpos dp- | 
vidas édOeiv ; 

épws 
Blov Svalrns te Kat 
cov Euvoixety TE cot 
kal Evveivat td map. 415 
tl dys; Aéyouot bn tlvas Aoyous ; 
dmiat’, dmicta Kat wépa KdveUv. 
Néyey Aéyeww KEAEVE pol. 
KN\Uov yap Oy av pot Néyels 
NOyov aveTrrépwpat. 
dye 81) ov kat od Thy TavoTrAlay pey Tad  — 435 
TauTny AaBovTe Kpe“aoatoy TYyayab7 
és tov iavdv elaw wryolovy tovTiCTAaTOV’ 
avd dé tovcd é’ olamrep trois Ndyous ouvérgcE’ eyo) 
gppacov, dSida€or. [To Peithetairos. 

pa tov ’AqroAXw yo pev ov, 

Avy pi) SidBwvrai y olde Siabixny euod ie 
hvTep 6 lOnkos TH yuvaixl SvébeTo 


. ACT I. 


That they won’t bite me. 
Cho. Good: I covenant. 


Pe. Then swear it. 


Cho. Well, I swear: if I am faithful, 


Then, by the votes of all the judges here, 
And all spectators, the first prize be mine. 

Pei. Accepted. 

Cho. But, if I transgress the oath, 
Then by one judge’s casting-vote—I win. 

Hoo. Oyez, oyez! let every hoplite now 
Take up his armour and go home again, 


And note our proclamations on the signboards. 


450 


Cho, At every tume, on every side, Strophe. 


Man's crafty nature is descried. 

Yet freely speak your mind: 

For haply you may find 

Some useful character in me, 

Some mightier faculty, 

To which my witless thoughts ne'er travelled, 
By your acuter sense unravelled. 

Such vantage-ground if you have found, 
Unto the public ear the case expound: 
Since all of good you gain for me 

Our common property shall be. 


So whatever be the thing you with full conviction bring, 


Let it now be boldly spoken: for our truce will not be broken. 


XO. . 
TIED. 
XO. 


TIEL. 


XO. 
KIT. 


XO. 


PARODOS. 20 


€ ; ‘\ s , > @ 
6 payatpotroids, un Save Tovtous épé. 
dcatrlOepas "yod. 
KaTOomocoy vuy TAavTa pot. 
duvup émt tovros, waot vindy rots KpiTais 445 
kal Tots Oeatais tmracw. 
éotat TavTayi. 
et 6€ trapaBalny, évl Kpith viKxady povov. 
axovete New" Tors osrAlras vuvpevt 
aveXomévous Owed amiévas mad otKade, 
oxoveiy & 6 Te av mTpoypddwpev ev Tois ‘Tiva- 
KLous. 450 
Sorepov ev ael kata mavra 8) Tpdmov 
mépuxey avOpwiros’ ad S buws Aéye por. 
Taxa yap TUxoLs av 
xpnotov éFemrov & Te pot mapopar’, 7 
Suvapiy tiva peito 485 
4 eo 9 A A 3 , - 
jTapareTrouevny um éuns ppevos afvverou 
ov Sé ro00 ovpds Aéy’ és Kowvor. 
A \ A \ U 
Oo yap av ov TUXNS poe 
9 A a \ 4 
a@yabov troplaas, totTo Kowov Eorat. 
GN éf StpTEp TpayyaTs THY ONY KES Youn 
avatrelcas, 460 
Aéye Oappnoas’ ws Tas atrovdas ov pn TMpoTEpot 


TapaRopev. 


ACT I. 


Pe. My mind, be sure, is eagerly at work, e’en now indeed 
One ready-leaven’d argument the time is come to knead. 
Ho, boy, a crown! and here, some slave, bring water quick, 
my hands to lave. 
_ Ew. Is there a dinner in the wind? or what are we to 
have? . 
Pei. No: but I’ve long desired to speak a big well-fatten’d 
word, 465 
By which the nation here may feel its spirit deeply stirr’d ; 
So sorrowful am I for you, who anciently were kings. 
Cho. We kings? of what? 
Pew. Indeed you were, of all existing things ; 
Of me, my friend here, Jove himself. Ere Kronos was, ye 


were ; . 
Before the Titan brood and Earth. 470 
Cho. And Earth ? 
Pet. "Tis true, I swear. 


Cho. I never heard, so help me Jove! a word of this 
before. 

Pei. You're such a dull incurious lot, unread in Aesop’s 
lore ; 


Whose story says, the lark was born first of the feathered quire, 


TITEL. 


ET. 


IIEI. 


XO. 


JIEI. 


XO. 


WEL 


XO. 


IIE. 


EPEISODION I. 91 


Kal pny opyd v7 tov Ala nal mporepvparat dovos 
els p00, 
ov Stapatrew ov Korver’ hépe wat orépavoy’ KaTa- 
xeta bat 
Kata xeipos Vdwp hepérw taxv Ths. 
Seurvncery pédrouev; 7 Th; 
pa AP adr DAéyew Ste tplradas péya Kat Napivoy 
€7ros Th, 465 
& Te THY ToUTMY Opavoe oyny’ odTws tudv vITEp- 
anya, 
ofrives Svtes mporepoy Ractras 
nets Bacirns Tivos Hpev ; 
TavTeav omoe éoTw, e“ovd mperov, Tovdi, Kal Tov 
Aus avrod, | 
apxatotepot mpotepol te Kpdvouv xai Turavoy éyé- 
veobe, 
Kat ys. 470 
Kal yns; 
vy) tov ’AmodXo. 
toutt pa Al ovK éremvopny. 
apabns yap épus Kov woAumpdypov, ovd Alowrov 
MTETGTNKAS, 
Os épacke Aéyov Kopvddy mdvtwv mpdrnv bpvida 


yevér Pas, 


ACT I. 


Before the earth; then came a cold and carried off his sire: 
Earth was not: five days lay the old bird untomb’d: at last 
| the son 
Buried the father in his head, since other grave was none. 475 
Hu. The father of the lark lies dead, I salen: at 
Buryhead. 
Pe. If then Paton the gods they were, and earlier than 
the earth, [Taking no notice of Euelpides. 
Is not the kingdom theirs of right by eldership of birth? 
Hu. True, by Apollo! so resolve Heian a beak to rear: 
The sceptre soon will Jove restore unto the woodpecker. 40 
Pei. There’s ample proof that birds, not gods, of yore were 
lords of men [As before. 
And kings: first Pll produce the cock, who ruled the Persians 
then, 
Ere aught was of Darius or of Megabazus heard ; 
And still, from that archaic rule, he’s called the Persian 


bird. | . 485 


ET. 


TIEI. 


ET. 


IIEI. 


EPEISODION L | 29 


mpotépay THS YH, KaTrELTAa voow Tov TaTép avTHS 
9 , ° 
amrodynaKeww 


A 5 9 9 ‘ be oA @ A : N 
ynv OUK €lVaAL, TOV VE T POKELo Qt TWELTTALOY THY 


- . 9 a 
5 azropotcay 


Ur dunyavlas tov warép auTns ev TH Kepary 
KatopvEat. | 475 

6 TaTnp apa THs KopydSod vuvi. Keirat TeOveds Ke- 
parnow. 

ovxouv Snr et mpoTepor pev yns mporepor Sé Oeav 
éyévovto, [Taking no notice of Euelpides. 

ws wpeaButatoy avtav ovtwv opOds éo0 7 Bactrela; 

yn tov AmoAXw* awdvu Tolvuy ypn pryxos Rooxew ae 
TO dowry’ 

Gs droddca taxéws 6 Leds rd oxqrrpov Te Spuno- 
NaTTY. 480 

as ovxyt Oeol tolvuy Apyov trav avOpwirav to 
WaNa.oy, [As before. 

GN Spviles, eaBaclreEvov, TOAN éori Texunpia TOUTD. 

avtixa & vupiy wpor emidelEm rov adextpvor’, as 
érupavver 

npxée Te Llepoay mavrwv arporepos’ Aapelov xai Meya- 
Balou, 

@aore Kaneitar mepouxos Spys amd tas apyfs ér 


éxeivns. 485 


ACT L 
Eu. Like the great king he therefore struts, and on his 
head, full-drest, 


Alone of all the birds he wears erect the turban crest. 


Pei. So strong was he, so mighty then, so big, that to this 
hour, [As before. 

When he his matin alto sings, in memory of that pow’r 49 
Smiths, potters, tanners, cordwainers, tradesfolk of every guild, 
Cornfactors, bathing men, and such as frame the lyre and shield, 
Spring up to work: ere close of night some cloak-marauders 


start. 


Hu, Ask me to give that evidence: I know it to my 

smart ; 

I lost a cloak of Phrygian wool all through that bird, I did: 

For, to a baby’s naming-feast being in the city bid, 

I drank a rouse and dozed awhile; then crew this cock ere 
‘yet | | 405 

The rest had supped: I surely thought ’twas morn, and off 
I set 

To Alimus; but scarce I’d poked my nose beyond the wall, 

A footpad’s bludgeon smote my back, I fell and tried to bawl: 











ET. 


TIEI. 


ET. 


EPEISODION I. 23 


dia tadr’ dp’ éywv nal viv domep Bacirers 6 péyas 
StaBacKet 

emt THS KEhadns THY KupBaclay tay opvidwv povos 
opOny. . 

obtw & ioyvé te kal péyas fv tote Kal ToAvs, bor 
ére kat viv [As before. 


amd THS popyns THS TOT exeivyns, OTdTay vopuov SpOpLov 


don, 
avanndacw waves em’ Epyov, yadKns, Kepauns, oKv- 
Aodéwas, . 490 


oxutTns, Baravis, ardetapotBol, TopvevroAvpacido- 
anryol" 

ot 6¢ Badifove’ amrodvcovtes vuKtap. 

eye TobTd y épwra. 

XNaivay yap amdreo’ 6 poxOnpes dpvyiwv éplov Sua 
TOUTOD. 

és Sexatny yap wore tradapiou KrnOels virérivoy év 
adore, 

kdpte KaOnivsoy, cat mpiv Seurveiy tos adXNovs ovTOS 
dp’ joev* | 495 

kayo vouloas SpOpov éxadpovy eoniearener KapTe 
1 pOoKVITTW 

éEm telyous kal AwrodvTys Tales poTddkwp pe Td 


A e 
YV@TOV 


’ ACT I. 


But, ere I could so much as moan, my cloak was slipt, .my 


robber flown. 


Pei. Ay, and a kite was ruling then the Hellenes, and 


was king. . [As before. - 
Cho. 'The Hellenes? . | | 500 
Pet. Yes; and in his reign it first became the thing 


To drop a reverence to the kites, 

Eu 2 By Bacchus! ’twas my fate, 
Spying a kite, to make my bow: then, tossing back my pate, 
Down the red lane my money went, and I was forc’d to drag 
Back to my home, all supperless and sad, an empty bag. 

Pe. So mighty was their sway that if in some Hellenic 

town ane [As before. 
A king, as Agamemnon or his brother, wore the crown, 
A bird upon their sceptres sat, the many bribes to share. 510 
What strikes me most, the present Zeus a bird, an eagle, wears 
Upon his statue’s head, as king: an owl his daughter bears: 
Apollo has a little hawk, as a.mere serving-man. 516 

Eu. Right, by Demeter! and now what's the reason of 

the plan? 


Pet. That, when a sacrificer puts, according to our use, 518 





IIEL. 


XO. 
TITEL. 


ET. 


IIEI. 


ET. 


TITEL 


EPEISODION I. 24 
Kayo tlrtm wéd\r\w Te Boay, 0 8 amréBrce Ooipariov 
pov, — 


ixtivos 8 ody tay “EXAnvev Apyev ToTe KaBacirevev. 
[As before. 
tov “EXAnvov ; 500 


Kai karédeckéy x’ ovTos patos BactNevov 
mpoxadivoeta Oar Tots txtivots. 
yy tov Atovucor, éy@ you 
éxadivOoupny ixrivov.Lowv, Ka birrios dy avayacKoy 
6Borov xareB8pdyOica’ Kata Kevoy Tov OvAaKov oikad 
adetXxov. 
qpxov & oltw ofdodpa thy apynv, dor et tis Kar 
Bactnrevor [As before. 
év Tais ToAeo Ww TOY EXAnvev Ayapéuvov 7 Mevéraos, 
él tay oxnmtTpav éxaOnr dpyis peréxwv 8 7 Swpo- 


doxoin. 510 


a Qy / ’ > > VQ ef . & \ \ ca 
0 Oé€ Seworarov y éotiv amavtwv' o Zevs yap o viv 


Bacirevov B14 
derov dpviy Extnxev Eywy err Tis Kepadrys Bacireds av, 
n 8 avd Ouyarnp yrady’, 6 & *AmoAAwy do7rEp 

Oepdirwy iépaxa. 

‘ \ , 9 2 Le , ‘ ivf a 9% 
vn thy Anuntp ev TavrTa reyes. Tivos ovvEKA TAUT 

vw? : 

ap &yovow ; 
iy brav Ovwv tis eretT avTois és THY Yelp, Ws VvOmOs 


éoriy, 518 





ACT I. 


The entrails in the hand, these birds may take them before 
Zeus. 

No man would then swear by a god, but all men by the birds, 

And Lampon still adjures the goose to back his cheating 
words. — "al 

Once, you see, you were high in place, 

Once a great and a holy race, 

Holy and great by all men deem’d, 

Now as the merest jacks esteem’d. 

If in their temples you now alight, 

They pelt you like any bedlamite: 525 

And the cunning fowlers for you set 

Snare and springe, twig, trap, gin, cage and net: 

Then they catch and sell you by the score, 

And the buyers feel and pinch you sore; 590 

Till, at last, when comes the sad decree, 

They don’t even roast you decently ; 

But the grated cheese they first prepare, 

Adding silphium, oil and vinegar, 

And they rub in these with cruel care; 


Then a sauce they heat that’s rich and sweet, 585 


And drench you with it, like dry dog’s meat, 


EPEISODION IL 


25 


ta omndayyva 815¢, tod Ards obtot mpdrepor ta 


omAayxyva AaBoow. 


@pvu 7 ovdels tor’ av avOpwrav Oedv, arr spviOas 


aTavTeES’ 


520 


Adprov 8 dspvvo’ are Kai vuvl tov yy’, Stay 


éEatrara Tt. 


ag € a , t , €.S 9 
OUTWS Upas TTavTes MpOTEepoy peyadous ayious T 


> 

évopsCov, 

A >] 9 A. 

vov & av pavas 

@Botrep & On Tods patyopévous 
Barnrovo’ vas Kav Trois tepois, 
mwas tus ép vuiv § opvieutys 
laornot Bpdxous, mayléas, paBSdous, 
Epxn, vepérXas, Sixrua, mnxtas: 
elra XNaBovtes Trwrdodc’ aOpoovs’ 
ot & wvodvras BrAwalovres’ 

xovd ovv, elrep tadra Soul Spav, 
3 ’ 4 e€ a 
omrTncapevos. TapeOevO vas, - 
GX’ émrixvaow Tupov, édaor, 
airduov, d£0s, xatatphpaytes 
Kataxvop €Erepoy yAuKv Kab duTrapér, 
xaTrevra KatecKédacav Oepuov 
rovto Kal’ tpov 


aiwv dowep xeveBpelwv. 


535 


530 


535 


ACT I. 


Cho. By far, O man, alas! by far Antistrophe. 
These tales of all most cruel are 
Which to mine ears you bring, 
And from me tears you wring 540 
For those my coward sires, who could 
| Thus careless of my good 
Abandon mighty privileges 
Sent down from old ancestral ages. 
But, as you're come by heaven's decree 
And happy chance a saviour unto me, 545. 
My nestlings and myself I give 
In your protectorate to live. 
Forthwith then teach us what to do: since life’s not worth 
the name, 
Unless by fair means or by foul our kingdom we reclaim. 
Pe. First then I teach that of the birds one city you 
shall found, 550 
And next that all this atmosphere that circles you around, 
And all the ways that intervene the earth and sky between, 
With huge baked bricks, like Babylon, be walled about by you. 
fu. O Gog and Magog, what a town! how terrible to 
view ! 
Pet. When this has gain’d its perfect height, reclaim from 
Zeus the sway: [Ignoring him. 
And if he won't knock under straight, but still returns a ‘ Nay,’ 
Announce to him a sacred war, and notify the gods 556. 


XO. 


IIE. 


ET. 


ITEI. 


EPEISODION LI. 26 


word 81 odd 87 yaXrerwrarous Aéyous 

nveyxas, avOpwd’’ as éSaxpuvca y éuav 540 

jTatépwv Kaxnv, of 

Taode tas Tyas Tpoyovey trapaddyTwv 

én’ éuol KaréXvoar, 

od 5é pou kata Salpova cal twa ovvruylav 

ayaOnv nets éuol cwrnp. 545 

avablels ydp éye cor 

Ta Te voTTia KapavToOV oixeTevow. 

GN’ 8 te yp Spay, od Sidacxe wrapdy' ods Gv ov 
GEvov nity, 

ef pn) KoptovpeOa travtl TpéT@ Thy nwerépay Bactrelav. 

nat 8) Ttolvuy mpadra Siddonm play opvibwy modw 
elvat, 550 

KaTeita Tov aépa mavtTa KiKA@ Kal may TouTi Td 
petakév 

mepiTery ite peyaras wAlvOots orrais dorrep BaBu- 
AOva. 

® Ke8puova al Tloppuplov, as opepSaréov 70 modo pa. 

Kaver qv tobdr éraveotnkn, THY apxynv tov AL 
GATaurety’ [Ignoring him. 

Kay pev pn op pnd eOerjon pnd evOds yvooima- 


, 


X1FD, 555 


iepov TodepLov TrpwYoay avT@, Kad Toict Oeoio ww atrevtreiy 


ACT I. 
They must not pass, as heretofore, through your august abodes 
A courting of their Semeles, Alkmenas and the rest: 
Such contraband amours shall now most strictly be supprest. 
To men you'll also send a bird as herald with these words: 
‘Henceforth, as birds are reigning, you must sacrifice to birds, 
And to the gods in second rank: whereto must be assign’d 
For every god a proper bird, the fittest you can find. 
Aphrodite’s sacrifice crumpets for the coot implies; 565 
If a sheep Poseidon gain, wheat-corn let the duck obtain ; 
Comes for Herakles a treat? honey-cakes the gull must eat; 
If king Zeus a ram delight, we’ve our kingbird, who by right, 
Zeus himself preceding, can claim a slaughter’d gnat from man.’ 
Eu. Slaughter’d gnat! charming that! let him thunder now, 
great Zan! 570 
Cho. All the work, where strength is needed, be to us 
assign’d, | 
While to you shall be committed all requiring mind. 
Hoo. Now, let me tell you, there’s no further time 


To nod and shilly-shally, Nikias-like ; 640 


ET. 


XO. 


EII. 


EPEISODION I. 27 


dua THs ydpas THs vmerépas pnKér epdaow Scapostrar, 

@otep mpdotepoy tas “ArXxpurvas nat tds Yeuéras 
édiwxor. 

tots 5° avOparrots Spi érepov tréurpar enpuKa Kerevan, 

ds dpvlOwy Bactrevovrwv Ovew spvict rd Novrrdn, 

katrevra Oeots tatepov avOus’ mpooveiwacbar dé mpe- 
TOVTWS . 

totat Oeoiow trav dpvlOwy os av apuétry Kal?’ Exacrov. 

hv ’Adpodity Ovn, yupous spviOe parnpids Ove" 565 

qv 8é TWocedavi tes oly Ovn, vttn wupods Kabaylfav. 

nv & ‘“Hpardéee Oyor, AKapm vacrods Ovew ped- 
ToUVTas’ 

av Aw Ovy Baciret xpiov, Bacire’s éor’ opytros 
cpus, 

@ mpotépm Set tod Aus avrod cépdhov évopynv 
odayialey, 

noOnv cépdy chayiatopévp. Bpovrata viv 6 péyas 
Zav. 570 

GAN’ bea pev Sef poopy mparres, ért radra terafoued 
npeis® 

dca Sé yuopn Set Bovrgcvew, évt col rdde wav 
aydKevras, 

Kab pny pa tov AL ovyi vuordlew y' ert 

@pa ’orly nuiv ovdée pedXovercay, . 640 


ACT 1. 


But something must be done forthwith. First enter 
And view my nest, my straws and stock of firewood: 
And let us know your names, 
Pe. An easy matter. 
My name is Peithetairos, and my friend’s 
Euelpides of Krio. 645 
Hoo. Welcome both. 
Pei. We thank you. 
Hoo. Enter in then. 


Pei, Certainly. 
Pray take and introduce us. 


Hoo. Forward, then. 

Pe. Yet something strikes me: just come back awhile, 
Let’s see: please tell us, how will he and I, 
Non-flyers, live on terms with you that fly? 650 

Hoo. Pluck up your spirits: there's a certain root, 
Which when you’ve eaten, you'll at once have wings. 6s 

Pei. Then let us enter in. Ho, Xanthias 
And Manodoros, take the baggage up. 

Cho. Sir, with you a word or two! 

Hoo. What 3 

Cho. Let these men lunch with you 
Bravely : but the musical, most melodious nightingale 











TIKI. 


EII. 


ITITEI. 
EII. 


IIEL. 
EII. 


TEL 


KIT. 


IIE. 


XO. 


EIT. 
XO. 


EPEISODION I. 


GAN ws rayiota Sef te Spay’ mpadrov 6é ye 


elaé\Oer és veorriay re Tv éuny 
Kal tad Kaphn Kal ra tapovta dpvyava, 
kai rodvow piv dpdcatov. 
ada padiov. 
éuot ev Svowa IleOérarpos, rwdedt 
Evedarldns Kpuadbev. 
GANA yalperov 
dpucho. 
Seyopeba. 
Seipo rolvuv eloutov. 
lwpev’ elonyou ov AaRov nas. 
| 101. 
arap 76 Seiva Seip’ éravaxpovoay tart. 
gdép dw, doacov vey, mwas éyo Te yovToct 
Evverdme® puiv rreromévois ov treToméva ; 
pndev poBn bjs" gots yap te pltcov, 
8 Scatpaydvr’ ececOov éemrrepwpéva. 
ovTe pev eiclwpev. aye Sn, Rav0la 
xat Mavddwpe, AauBavere Ta oTpapaTa. 
ovTOS, T€ KANG, Te KANO. 


Tl Kanes ;s 


28 


645 


650 


655 


TouTous pev dywv peta cod viv 


aploricov ed rip § yduperr Evppwvov andéva Movoaus 


ACT I. 


Summon forth, and let her stay here awhile, with us to play. 680 
Pei. Pray, Sir, refuse not: speak a friendly word, 

And from the rushbrake fetch the little bird. 
fu. Yes, bring her hither: let their suit prevail, 

That we too may behold the nightingale. . 

Hoo. If'both desire, I must: out, Prokne dear, § 45 

And be presented to the strangers here. 

The Nightingale enters from the bush. 
Pei. Wide-honour’d Zeus! a charming birdie this, 

And wearing heaps of gold, like some young Miss. 670 
Eu, I want to kiss her. 

Pei. That’s a maddish freak : 

She’s got a pair of scissors for a beak. 

Hu. But from her noddle I could peel the shell, 

As from an egg, and kiss her very well. 
Hoo. Come, let’s be moving. 676 
Pe. Lead the way, my friend, 

And may good fortune still our steps attend. 

[Haeunt Hoopoe, Petthetairos, Euelpides, and Slaves. 
[The Coryphaeus chants or intones the first Parabasis. 
Cho. O my ownie, O my brownie, (Kommation) 
Bird of birds the dearest, 
Voice that mingling with my lays 
Ever was the clearest. 
Playmate of my early days, 
Still to me the nearest, 
Nightingale, thus again 





IIE]. 
ET, 


EII, 


TITEL, 
ET. 
TIEI, 
ET. 


EII, 
TEI. 


XO. 


EPEISODION I. 29 


katared nuiv Seip éexBiBacas, iva tralcwpev per’ 
éxelyns. 660 
@ Tovto pévtoe vn A’ avtotow mifov* 
exBlBagov é« tod Bovrououv tovpyib.ov. 
éxBiBacoyv avrot mpos Gedy avtnv, a 
Kat vd Oeacwperba tv anddova. 
arr’ et Soxet op@y, tadta ypn Spav. 7 Ilpoxvn, 665 
éxBatve car cautTny émidelxvy tow Eévou. 
The Nightingale enters from the bush. 
& Zed torvtriyn®, ws xaddv tovpvl@ov. 
dcov 8 éyeu Tov ypvody, wotrep TapOévos. 670 
éya pev avtny xav dirjoal po Soxa. 
GN’, & Kaxodaipov, paupos cBerloxow exer. 
GAN wotrep ody vy Al? arorépavra yp7 
amd THs Kepadys Td Néppa KdP obrw direiv. 
Ua (Lev. 675 
nyod 51 od vev TUydyab7. 
[Haeunt Hoopoe, Peithetairos, Huelpides, and Slaves. 
[The Coryphaeus chamts or intones the first Parabasis. 
& dirn, & Eovdn, 
@ diAtatov scpvéwy 
mavrov, Evvvope Ta éwov 


ipvov, Evytrpod anédoi, 


ACT I. 


Do I meet thee, do I greet thee, 680 
Bringing to me thy sweet strain ? 
Skilfullest of artists thou 
To soft trillings of the flute 
Vernal melodies to suit, 
Our homily demands thy prelude now. 
[The Nightingale plays a flute symphony. 


(Parabasis proper) 
Ho! ye men dim-lived by nature, closest to the leaves 
in feature, 685 
Feeble beings, clay-create, shadowy tribes inanimate, 

Wingless mortals, in a day, doleful, dreamlike, swept away ; 
Note the lessons that we give, we the immortals form’d to 
live, ‘ 
We the ethereal, the unaged, with undying plans engaged : 
That, when ye have heard aright all our lore of highest 


flight, 60 
Birds and what their true creation, gods and what their 
generation, 


All the rivers running through Erebos and Chaos too, 

Ye may cry, well trained by us, ‘What care we for Prodikos?’ 
Chaos was and Night of yore in the time all times before, 
And black Erebos beside Tartaros extending wide. 

Earth, Air, Heaven were yet unknown, in huge Erebos alone 





PARABASIS L 30 


HrAOes, NAGes, whOns, 680 

o0v POdyyov éuol pépova’’ 

GAN’ @ Kad\LBoav Kpéxove 

avrov Pbéypaciw yptvois, 

dpxov Tey avatraicTov. 

[The Nightingale plays a flute symphony. 

dye 8n gvow avdpes apaupoPBior, pudAdNwY yeved Trpoc- 
duovot, 685 

bduyoSpavees, wracpata Wwnrov, aKedéda Pir a- 
pevnvd, 

amrnves ébnpéptos TaXaol Bporoi, avépes eixedoverpor, 

mpooxete tov voov Tois aOavaros piv rots aidv 
eova ty, 

Tots aidepioss, Tolow aynpys, Tois EPOita pndopévoicey, 

iy axovoavtes travta ap’ nav opOas mepi tév 
peTewpor, 690 

vow oiwvav yéveriv te Oewv Totauay T épéBovs Te 
“dous TE 

eldores 6p0as trap éwod, IIpodixm aAdew elanre to 
Novtrov. 

xaos Hy Kal wE EpeBos Te péXav Trp@Tov Kal TapTapos 
eupus" 

yn 8 ov8 ap ovd ovpaves jv" épéBous 8 ev azreipoct 


KONTOLS 


ACT I. 


First, our oldest legend says, black-wing’d Night a wind-egg 
lays ; 605 

Which, as circling seasons move, brings to birth the charmer 
Love, 

Bright with golden wings behind, semblant to the whirling 
wind. 

In the vast Tartarean shade him the dull dark Chaos made 

Sire of us: we nestled there till we saw the light of 
air. 

Race immortal there was none till Love’s sorcery was begun: 

But, when all things mixed in motion, rose the sky, the earth, 
the ocean, 701 

And the blessid gods were made, everlasting, undecay’d. 

Thus of all the blesstd we far the oldest claim to be; 

And that we are sons of Love many facts agree to prove: 

Still we fly our daily round, still with lovers we are 
found ; 

Cruel hearts will oft relent, if a pretty bird is sent; 


And a quail, or goose, or dove, wins the victory for Love. 


PARABASIS I. 31 


tixres mpetiotoy virnvémlov WE 1 pedavdrrepos 
@ov, 695 

é& od TrepiTeAXopévars Bpais EBNacTev Epws o TroGeavds, 

otlABwv vadtov wrepvyow xpucaly, eixads avendxeot 
divaus. 

odTos yaeu nepdevTe puyels vuylm xatda TapTapov 
evpvy 

éveortevaey yévos nuérepov, Kal mpwTov avyyaryev és 
pas. 

arporepov & ovKx nv yévos a0avarwr, mplv Epws Evve- 
p€ev Erravra’ 700 

Evppiyvupévav 8 érépwv éErépors yéyov’ ovpaves 
WKEAVOS TE 

Kai yn Tavrov Te Oedy paxdapwy yévos aPOtrov. dde 
pév ea pev 

qmo\v mpecBvtato. TavTwyv paxdpwv nets. ws & 
éopev Epwros 

modNois Snrov’ tmetowerOd tre yap Kal Tolow épdor 
ovyerpev" 

mondo) 8 druyeis Svres mpotepov Svampayotyres 7 
éy &pwte 

el? dv érrd0ovr Sia ryv ioydy THv nperépay exparnaar, 

3 pev Spruya Sous, 5 5é wopduplwr’, 6 Se yqv’, 8 52 


TEPTLKOY OPVLY. 


ACT If. 


Of the goods with which they’re blest mortals get from birds 
the best. 

First, of seasons, winter, spring, summer, we the tokens bring. 

Men must sow, when shrieks the crane seeking Libya’s coast 
again ; 710 

That’s the time, each captain knows, to hang up the helm and 
doze: . 

Then Orestes must not lack cloak well-woven for his back, 

Lest with cold the robber freeze and another’s garment seize. 

Next the kite appears, and brings a new season on his wings, 

When the flock you must release from its vernal load of 
fleece. 

Then the swallow comes to tell time is come the cloak to sell, 

And, for wear while days are hot, buy the slender paletot. ms 

We are Ammon’s shrine to you, Delphi and Dodona too, 

Phoebus’ self: to birds you turn first, whatever you would 
learn, 

How to choose a mart, a trade, or a marriageable maid. 

The decisive omens all, known in seercraft, birds you call; 

Bird an oracle of fate, bird a sneeze you designate : 720 

Sign that’s seen or voice that’s heard, lacquey, donkey, ’tis a 
bird. 





PARABASIS TI. | 32 


mavta 8& Ovyntois early ad judy ray opvidwv ta 
péytora. 

TpaTa wey wpas halvouev nets Rpos yYerpavos oTrwpas. 

oTreipe pév, Stay yépavos Kpodfovo’ és ray ArBunv 
peTaywpy’ ~ a10 

kal mndadtov Tore vauKrAnpw ppaler KpeudoavTe 
cabevderp, 

era 8 “Opéorn yAaivav idalvew, a py puyav 
airoovy. 

ixtivos 8 avd peta tadra havels érépay pay arrodaive, 

nuixa qextety @pa mpoBatwyv moxov npwov' elta 
NEALOWY, 

Ore xp) xXAalvay Twreiv 75n Kal AydSdpioy Te apia- 
o8au, 715 

éopev © vyiv “Appov, Acdrdol, Awdavn, PoiBos ’A- 
TOAAWY. 

€AGovres yap mpatov em Spyis ovTw pds arravta 
Tpérrec Oe, 

m@pos T éutroplay, Kal mpos Biorou Krrow, Kal pos 
yauov adXos. 

Spyw re vowltere wav bcarrep rept pavrelas Siaxplvec 

pynun y vpiv pus éorl, wrappov tT SpyviOa Kaneirte, 720 

EvpBorov spyw, dovay spr, Oepatovr sprviv, svov 


dpvev. 


ACT I. 


We're Apollo then, ‘tis clear; we're your only Pythian seer. 


So then, if for gods you take us, 
And your trusted muse-seers make us, 
Gentle breezes we will send you; 
Pleasant seasons shall attend you ; 
Moderate heat when summer’s nearest, 
Moderate cold when winter’s drearest : 
We'll not sulk, and sit beclouded 
High in Jove-like grandeur shrouded ; 
But, in lower ether gliding, 
Near your mansions still abiding, 
We will give to all your nations, 
Through their latest generations, 
Life that’s healthy, peace that’s wealthy, 
Youth-enhancing feast and dancing, 
And, with laughter, bird’s milk after. 
All shall say, ‘’Tis really cloying’: 
Such the bliss you'll be enjoying. 
Muse of the woodland glade, 
Tio, tro, tio, tio, tio, tio, trotia, 
Harmonist, whom tending oft 
In glens or on the mountain tops aloft, 
Tro, tro, tho, tiotia, 
Perch'd in an ash-tree’s leafy shade, 
Tio, tio, tio, trotiz, 
Through my brown bill to Pan I raise 
Melodious strains of holy praise, 


And to the mountain Mother solemn choral lays. 


Totototototototototia. 


730 


rb) 


(Ode) 


uM 


PARABASIS I, 


33 


dp ov havepas nyucis vulv dopey pavtetos *Arod- 


ov 


3 


“a gS e A / @ , 
NV OVVY NaS VvopionTeE Veous, 


b ] 3 U 
ovK atrodpavTes 


KaGedovpeO dvw ceuvuvopevot 


Tapa tais vepédas womrep yo Zeus" 


GAA Tapovtes Sdcopev Vuiv 


9 A / 
avtTois, Taiciv, Taldwv Traiciv, 


arouvluyieav, Blov, eipnvny, 


yeoTnta, yédwTa, yopous, Oarias 


f f 
yata T opvidwayv. wate Tapéctat 


A € wn e€_\ a ) a 
KoTriay viv vio Tay ayabov 


oltwm mAouTHOETE TaVvTes. 


Moica doypaia, 


\ ' 
TLO TLO TLO TLO TLO TLO TLOTIE, 


moutryn, peO As eyo 


, a f¢ > 9 > / 
varratal te Kopudaiciv 7 ev dpeiass, 


TL TLO TLO TLOTLE, 


i€duevos wedias earl dudXoKOpou, 


\ \ A / 
TLO TLO TLO TLOTLE, 


de’ euns yévuos EovOijs peréwv 


Tlavi vopous iepods avadhaiva 


ceva TE PNTpPL YopevpaT opeia, 


TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTLE, 


730 


“1 
qa 
Loi) 


5—2 


ACT I. 


Whence, beelike, Phrynichus his soul did fill 
With fruit of melodies ambrosial, still 


Carolling lyrics at his own sweet will. 750 


(Epirrhema) 
Sirs, if any of your throng to the bird-club will belong, 
We can offer him a home full of bliss for years to come. 
What your laws entitle base, what you visit with disgrace, 755 
We the birds commend and deem worthy of our high esteem. 
Here by law ’tis very bad if a youngster beats his dad: 
There with us ’tis usual rather, even grand, to cuff a father, 
Strutting up and crying, ‘Sir, if you'll fight me, lift your spur.’ 
Any of you that has been branded for a runaway, 700 
As a speckled francolin may with us securely stay. 
Any half-caste Spintharos, with a taint of Phrygian blood, 
In our Birdland will be called Crossbill of Philemon’s brood. 
If, like Exekestides, some vile Karian slave comes out, 
Pappies he can fledge with ease there, and wardsmen soon 


will sprout. 765 
To the outlaws would some day Peisias’ son the gates betray? 
He, true nestling of his sire, partridge-rank can there acquire: 


Sneaking out we reckon fair, partridge-fashion, from the snare. 


So swans in olden tide, (Antode) 


Tv0, tvo, tto, tio, tio, tio, tiotia, 770 














PARABASIS I. . 34 


EvOey wotrepel pédit TA 
Dpvviyos auSpoclwy peréwv aireBdoKxeto xaptoy aet 
dépwv yruxelay wbday. 750 


TLO TU TL TLOTLE. 


et pet opviday ris vay, ® Ocatral, BovreTas 
Svatréxew Cov ndéws TO Aowrrov, ws Huas ito. 
e , ? b [AN 2 \ a ft , 
doa yap eat évOaS aicypa Te voum Kpatovpeva, 755 
taita tavt éotly tap nuiv toiow spyicw Kara. 
et yap év0aS éativ aicypov Tov Tarépa TUTTE vou, 

a > 9 a \ > ¢€ a 9 4 n 
TouT éKxei KaXOY Trap nuiv éoTLV, WY TIS TO TraTpl 
mpocdpapev ely twatatas, alpe wAnKTpOY, eb payel. 
et 5é rvyyaves tis tay Sparrérns eotuypévos, 760. 
atTrayas ovTos map npiv tovKinos KEexAnoeETaL. 
et O€ Tuyyaves Tis dv. DovE pndev Frrov Bwwapov, 
dpuylros Spvis odtos éotat, Tod Pirrjpovos yévous. 
et b€ SodAdS éott Kal Kap domep “EEnxeotidns, 

t eo > € a a f 

gvcatw tamrmrous Tap mnuiv, cal pavodvrar ppa- 

TEpES. 765 
et 8 6 Ilesatou mpododvar tots atipows tas mvAas 
Botvrerat, wépdiE yevéc Ow, Tod tarpds veotTiov’ 


ws Tap npiv ovdev aioxypdy dotw éxirepdixioas. 


b] 4 
TOLGSE KUKVOL, avT@on 


4 
TiO TLO TLO TLO TLO TLO TLOTLE, 770 


ACT I. 


Did ther trilling pinions poise 
And chant Apollo with commingling noise, 

Tio, tio, to, tiotia, 
Perch’d on a knoll by Hebrus’ side, 

Tio, tro, tro, trotin. 775 
Came through the airy cloud a cry, 
The dappled wild-beasts crouching le, 
And sinks the billowy sea beneath the windless sky. 

Totototototototototia. 
Olympus echoed to his utmost bound, 780 
Amazement seiz’d the kings, and far around 
Each Grace and Muse Olympian swell’d the sound. 

Tw, to, tio, trotrx. 

(Antepirrhema) [795 
Of all joys and blessings none beats the having feathers on. 
One of you spectators may, wearing wings at any play, 
Get at last a peckish feel, and desire a quiet meal: 
Home he'll fly, just take a snack, then, with belly full, fly 
back. 
Isn’t it then the best of things to possess a pair of wings? 
In Dieitrephes we find proof enough for any: mind: 
Osier wings were all his claim, yet a captain he became 
By his tribesmen duly voted, thence to higher grade promoted ; 
Now he gives himself grand airs, once the roughest of the 
roughs, 

And the title that he bears, Colonel Horsecock of the Buffs. 


END OF ACT I. 











PARABASIS L 35 


cuppiyn Bonv ood 

mtepots xpéxovres laxyov ‘A7rd\Xo, 

TL TLO TLO TLoTLE, | 

by Om epelouevos Trap “EB8pov rrorapov, | 

TLO TLO TLO TLOTLE, 775 

dud 8 aidépsov védos 7AOe Bod’ 

atnte Sé pira te wouxita Onpdr, 

Kupata tT éaBece vyvewos aibnp, 

TOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTOTLE’ 

was 8 érextimno dduptros: - 980 

elde 8¢ OapBos dvaxtas* cduprredbes Se péros Xaprres 
Modcal tr’ érwrodAv£av. 


Tuo Tw Tu TLOTLE. 


ovdév ear’ Auewov ovd Hdvov 7} picar mrepa. 785 

autly’ vudv trav Ocatav el rus nv vardmTTeEpos, 

elra Tewav Tots yopotor Tay tpuywdav xGeTOo, | 
éxmrTouevos av ovtos nplatncev éAOay oixade, 

Kar dv eumrnabels df’ nds avOts ad xarérteto. 
dp’ umomrepov yevécOar mavtos éorw aftov; 

ds Aurpédns ye wutivaia povov éyov mrepa 

npéOn pvrapyos, 10 tamapyos, elf’ é€ ovdevds 


peyada mpatre, Kaot) vuvi Eouvbos immadextpvav. 


ACT II. 


Scene: in the Clouds. A hastily-constructed altar stands in the 
centre of the stage. Enter PEITHETAIROS and EUVELPIDES as 
birds. 


fu, What are you laughing at? 





Oh, don’t you know? 
Those pin-feathers of yours amuse me 50. 
Such metamorphosis your wings produce, 
You're very like a cheaply-painted goose. 86 
Eu. ‘You've limn’d my likeness: yours is quite as droll, 
A blackbird stript of feathers round the poll. 
Pet. These likenesses we get—the poet sings— 
Wrought of none other, but by our own wings. 
Cho. What’s the next business ? 
Pei. We are bound to frame, 
First thing of all, a great and glorious name 
For our new city. Sacrifice is due, 810 
Next, to the powers divine. 
Eu. I think so too. 
Cho, What title for our city shall we choose? 











ACT IL. 


Scene: in the Clouds. A hastily-constructed altar stands im the 
centre of the stage. Enter PerrHETaArRos and EvELPIDES as 
birds. 


ITKI. 


IIEI. 


ET. 
ITEI. 


XO. 


IIE]. 


ET. 
XO. 


SBATTI tovavtl: pa AP eyo pév rpadypa re 






fa 4 +) 9 t 
Yea Pied ‘YeAOLOTEpov ove eldov ovdeTrarore. 
. oe eae oe 
mm ET. emi ro yenas ; 
rt Totat cols WKUTTTEpOLS. 
oc 6 parsot Eotxas errepwpévos ; 
> > 2 \ f 
ELS EUTEAELAY YXNVLE oTUYYEypAamLEeVvo. 805 
avd d€ Koiy@ ye oxadiov amroTeTiApevg. 
tautl pev yxdopecba Kata tov Aioyvdov’ 
Trad ovy vm addNwV aAXda Tols avTaY Trepois. 
dye 8n tl ypn Spav; 
IP@TOV GVOLA TH TTOAEL 
GécOat Te péya Kab Krewwov, elra tots Oeots 810 
ica peta TovTo. 
fe) 3 A 
TavTa Kapol auvookei. 


dép idw, ti & nyiv trotvoy éoray TH Tore; 


Pei. 


ACT II. 


That which the folk at Lakedaemon use, 


That big one, Sparta, would you give it} 


Ku. 


Fie ! 


Take for my city Sparta? No, not I: 815 


The meanest pallet never should receive 
So poor a fitting, while I’d girths to give. 


Pei. 
Eu. 


What must we call it then? 
From this new home, 


These nebulous altitudes in which we roam, 
Some vaunting title take to suit it pat. 


Pet. 


Cho. 
A very noble name and—not too short. 


Eu. 


Cloudcuckooborough,—what d’ye say to that? 


Bravo! bravo! invention’s quite your forte ; 


A smartish city this! But who shall dwell, 


As guardian godhead, in the citadel? 
For whom the broidered mantle? 


Pet. 


Can’t we still 


Let Athenaea keep the sacred hill? 


Eu. 


A wisely-ordered state can any be, 


Where stands in highest shrine a deity 


Female of sex, who, clad in armour, sees, 


With shuttle in his hand, a Kleisthenes? 


Pew. 


Cho. 


To guard the Storkwall whom shall we engage? 
A bird of ours of Persian parentage, 


Whose fear-awakening fame resounds afar, 


The gallant chicken of the god of war. 


Eu. 


O my lord Chicken! ay, ’tis chosen well ; 


No god is fitter upon rocks to dwell, 


ITE, 


ET. 


ITE], 
ET. 


TEI. 
XO. 
EY. 
TEI. 


ET. 


ITE]. 
XO. 


ET. 


EPEISODION Il. 


Bovreobe TO péya Todro tov Aaxedaipovos 
Lraptny svoya Karapuev avrny; 
“Hpaxdeus" 
Ladptnyv yap av Oelwnv eyo tHyH orev; 
ovd av yamevvy tavy ye Keiplay y exwv.. 
tl Sar dvou’ avry Onooped® ; 
évrevOevi 

ée Tav vededov Kal Tay peTewpwov yoploy 
xadvoy Te mavu. 

Bovre Nederoxoxnvylay ; 


tov iov* 


A roo a 9 e ” 
KaXov ov ¥ ATENVOS Kat pey NUPpPES TOVVOpLa. 


AuTrapoy TO Xpa THS Worews. Ths dal Beds 
monmovyos érrat; TO Eavoduev Tov témAov; 
ti 8 ov« ’AOnvaiav édpev rrodudéa; 

Kat Tes av ert yévoir av evTaKTOS TONS, 
Orrou Beds yuvn yeyovuia tavoT)iav 


€ornx &yovaa, KreioBévns 5é xepnlda; 


gly 8a nabébe ris mércws 10 TleXapytxov ; 


4 94? ¢ A A , Co) A 
opis ab Nu@Y TOU yEevoUsS TOU TEpatKoU, 
a f 9 a 
oomep Néyerae Selvdraros elvat TravTaxov 
"Apews veorros. 

@® veotré SéorroTa’ 


ws 8 6 Beds erretndecos oixeiy ert amrerpav. 


820 


830 


835 


ACT IL. 


Pe. Now you start off, ascend the upper air, 
And lend a hand to help the masons there: 
Pass on the lime, to mix the mortar strip, 
Carry the hod up, from the ladder slip; 810 
Appoint the watch, the fire still hidden keep, 
Run round the beat with bell, there fall asleep. 
Despatch one herald to the gods on high, 
To men beneath another from the sky; 
For me returning bid him ask. 845 
Eu. I see; 
You mean to rest here; rest and hang—for me. 
Pei. Go on your mission, friend: without you none 
Of all the things I mention will be done. [Lait Euelpides. 
Now must we hold a solemn sacrifice 


In honour of the new-made deities ; 


And I will fetch a priest to range the show. B49 
Lads, lift the basket and the ewer. So. [Hatt Peithetavros. 
Cho, JI say so too: I vote with you, Strophe. 


Yes, and add one counsel due: 

To the gods devout profession 

Let us make in grand procession, 

And, to win their favour, bring 

A nice sheep as offering. 855 
Utter forth, utter high 

To the god a Pythian cry; 

And let Chairis to our lay 

Flauto obligato play. 





IIE. 


ET. 


TEL. 


XO. 


EPEISODION II. 38 


9 
dye vuv od pev Badibe mpdos Tov aépa 
A U 4 
Kal toiot retyifovor trapadvaxovet, 
YadiKas Tapapopel, 1ynddv azrodv’s Spyacor, 
, > @& U b 3 a / 
Nexavnv avéveyKe, KaTaTres amd THS KAipakos, 840 
, , \ a 4 3 > 0? 
gvrAaKkas KaTaoTHCAL, TO TOP eyxpuTTT dei, 
xwdwvopopayv mepitpeye Kal xabevd éxet’ 
xnpuxe Oe aéurpov Tov pev és Oeors ava, 
érepov & dvwbev avd map avOpwirous Kato, 
KaxeiOev avOts trap épe. 845 
avd 6€ ¥ avTod pévav 
4 > w 9 
olwwle Trap ep. 
i0’, bya, of méurrw ao” eyo. 
ovdey yap dvev cov y av réyw TempakeTar. 
[Hat Huelpides. 
éyoa © tva Ovow totct Katvotow Geois, 
A e lA , A N a 
TOV lepéa TeurbovTa THY To“TNY Kade. 
jai Tat, TO Kavovv aipecOe Kai thv yépyiBa. 850 
[ Hat Peithetavros. 
opoppo8e, avvbéra, 
ocupTrapawéaas éyw 
TMpocooa peydra ceuva mpocrevat Oeoiory, 
apa dé wpoaétt yapitos Evexa mpoBariov Te Ovew. 855 
irw itrw dé muOtas Bod bea, 


cuvavreltw Sé Xaipis wd. 


ACT II. 


A Fluteplayer, wearing the mask of a raven with a mouthpiece, 
enters and begins to play. 


Enter PEITHETAIROS with a Priest. 


Pe. A truce there to your puffing! Herakles! 
What creature’s this? Will marvels never cease? 
Full many a wondrous sight I’ve seen, but none 
To match a raven with a mouthpiece on. 

Your office now begins ; initiate, priest, 
To the new gods our sacrificial feast. 

Pr, Yl do the solemn duty, since you ask it: 
But where is he that bears the sacred basket ? 

Let us pray to Hestia birdqueen of flames and to holy Kite 
that guards the same— 885 
Pei. Hail, Sunium-worshipp’d Hawk ; hail, royal Stork. 

Pr. and to the Pythian and Delian Swan; and to Lato, 
Mother-quail, and Artemis the Goldfinch— 870 

Pei. Now no more Kolaenis, she Goldfinch Artemis will be. 

Pr. and to the Redstart Sabazian, and to the Sparrow, 
inighty Mother of gods and men— 875 

Pei. O lady Kybele, be good to us, O Sparrow, Mother 
of Kleokritus. 

Pr. and to Olympian birds and lady-birds all, with united 
prayer we call, that to Cloudcuckooburgesses they grant health 
and wealth and all they want, themselves and their alliance, 
especially the Chians— ? 

Pei. That’s delicious, I .declare: Chians tack’d on every- 

where |! 880 








EPEISODION II. 39 


A Fluteplayer, wearing the mask of a raven with a mouthpiece, 


IIE]. 


IE. 


IIE. 


IE. 


WEIL 
IE, 


IKI. 
IE. 


TIEI. 


enters and begins to play. 


Enter PEItHETAIROS with a Priest. 
jTavoat ov guvoay. “Hpaxrges routl ri qv; 
évrel ud Al’ éyo todd 87 Kal Seiv’ iSodv 
ovirw Kopax’ eldov éutrepopBevwpévor. 
teped, adv Epyov, Ode Tots Katvots Oeois. 
Spacw Tad. GAA Tod ’oTw 6 76 Kavoov eyav; 
evxecOe 1H ‘Eotia tH dpvibelp nal TO ixtive ro 
Ea TLOVY@ 866 
@ gouvviépaxe yaip’ dvat qeXapyiKé. 
kal kuxvp tvOle wal Syrip Kal Antol éptuyo- 
pntpa Kal “Apréuids axaravib., 870 
ovKért KoNawis GAN dxaravbls “Apreuss. 
kal gpvyiip caBalio nal otpovlm peyddrn entpr 
Gedy xal avOparrov, 875 
déorrowa KuBérn, orpod0e, uirep Knreoxptrov. 
kat Opyioww ohuprrions Kal oAupTinos macs Kal md- 
onow, didovat Negeroxoxxvytedow vyiciav xab ow- 
Typlay avroict Kat Xloat, 


Xtovsww joOnv wavrayod mpocKeipévots. 880 





ACT II. 


Pr. and to each hero-bird and hero’s son, and to pelican 
and porphyrion ; and to heathcock and blackcock, and peacock ; 
and to gannet, and heron, and grosbeak, and shrike, and 
screechow] ; and to blackcap, and titmouse, and earlytrumpet- 

fowl— 
Pei. A plague on all this nonsense: cease to bawl. 
Ho, ho! what victim’s this to which you call 800 
Ospreys and vultures, dolt? a single kite, 
D’ye see, could swoop and carry off this mite. 
Clear out from us, and take your wreaths away : 
Il make this sacrifice myself to day. [Zait Priest. 
Cho. So now agaim a second strain Antistrophe. 
I must raise and not refrain: 
‘While they bear the sacred lotion, 
I must set my songs in motion, 
And to this our solemn rite 
All the blessed gods invite : 
No, not all; one alone, 
If indeed there's meat for one. "900 
In the victim standing by 
Only beard and horns I spy. 
Pei. Let us pray and sacrifice to the feather’d deities. 


Enter Poet. 


Po. O£ Cloudcuckooborough’s city 

Celebrate the happy state, 

O my Muse, in hymnéd ditty. 905 
Pei, What importation’s this? say who you are. 





IE. 


ITE. 


XO. 


TEI, 


TIO. 


TIKI. 


EPEISODION II. 40 


cal Howaw Spyict nat ypwwv traiol, ropdupiove Kal 

menexavte Kab werexiv@ Kal PréEide nab rérpaxe Kat 
TADUL 7 

kal ered nal Baokd Kai édacd Kal épmoip nal Katap- 
paxty | 885 

Kal perayKopigw Kal aiyiOadr\.m Kal npirdrreyyt, 

jwav és, xopakas, Tadcat Kadov. tod iov, 

émt trotov, & Kaxddaipmov, lepetoy Kaneis 890 

adwaérous nad yirras; ovx opas Ste 

ixrivos els dv TovTo y olyo8’ apiracas ; 

dren? ad’ juav cab od Kat Ta oTéupata’ | 

éy® ydp autos Touroyl Pvcw povos. [Lait Priest. 

elr’ avOts avd tTdpa cot . 895 

Set re Sevtepoyv pédos 

vépuiBs OeoweBés Scvov értBodv, Kanreiv Se 

Haxapas, eva Tia povor, eitrep ixavoy Eker’ SYrov. 900 

Ta yap twapovra Ovpar ovdév AAXO WAY 

yéverdv Tt eotl Kal Képara. 


Qvovres evEwperOa trois mrepivors Geois. 


Enter Poet. 


Negedoxoxxvyiay tay evdaipova 
KAncov, @ Modca, reais ev buvwy aotdais. 9c8 


Toutl TO Mpayya Todamroyv; eimé pot Tis el; 





ACT II. 


Po. One who honey-voicéd song produces, 
A holy menial of the Muses: 
Such is the title Homer uses. 910 
Pe. A. slave are you, yet keep your flowing hair? 
Po. No; but every one that song produces 
Is a holy menial of the Muses ; 
Such is the title Homer uses. 
Pei. Your blouse too’s holy; to your trade you owe it : 915 
But what the mischief brings you here, Sir poet ? | 
Po. Fine odes I’ve made and many, to renown 
In song Cloudcuckooborough, your new town, © 
Some Cyclian, others Parthenean, 
Others in style Simonidean. 
Pei, When did you set about this song-inditing? 920 
Po. Long on this city, long have I been writing. 
Pei. What’ haven’t I held its name-feast now, you gaby, 
And called it for the first time, like a baby? 
Po. By the Muses tidings swift are carried ; 
Swifter than the glancing force 
Of the lightning-footed horse 
Came the news, and never tarried. 925 
But, O sacred-titled lord, 
Founder and sire of Aetna’s state, 
What thy bounty can afford, 
Be it little, be it great, 
With a generous soul incline 
To bestow on mine from thine. 880 
Pei. This plaguy wretch will worry us, I see, 








ITO. 


IIEI. 


IO. 


EI. 


IO. 


ITEI. 


TIO. 


ITI. 


TIO. 


EI. 


EPEISODION. II. 


eyo pediyrAw@oowy éréwv tels aovddav 
Movodwv Oeparrwv otpnpos, 

Kata tov "Opunpov. 

brevra Sha Soddos dv Kounv eyes ; 

oUK GANA Tavtes éopev of SidacKadot 
Movoawy Oepatrovtes orpnpot, 

xara rov “Opmpor. 

oux éTds Otpnpov Kai Td AnSdpioy eyess. 
atap, ® Toimtd, Kata rl Seip’ avepOapns; 
HéAn werroink és tas Nededoxonnuyias 
TAS vpeTépas KUKALG Te TOAAG Kal Kada 
kat tapOévera Kab Kata Ta Ypovidov. 
tavtl ov wor érolncas; amd Toco xXpovou; 
Tara twarae 57 tTHVD éyo KAnLw WOLD. 
out apts Ovw thy Sexatnv tavTns éya, 
Kal Tovvop @aoTrep Tratdip viv 51) “Oéunv; 
GAG Tis wxeia Movedwy datis 

olarep imrmwv dpapvyd. 

od o€ watep xtlotop Airvas, 

Cabéwv tepay ouwvupe, 

Sos duly & Te mep 

Ted Kepanra Oédys 

mpodpav Souev ely rely. 


/ \ a 
TouTl mapéfer TO Kandy piv mpdypata, 


6—2 


4} 


gIo 


920 


925 


930 





ACT II. - 


If we don’t shut his mouth up with a fee. 
You’ve got a jerkin there, come, strip, bestow it 


Upon my very learned friend the poet. [To one of the slaves. 


There, poet, take this jerkin for your meed ; 

Your shivering plainly shews it what you need. 
Po. Glad the friendly Muse receiveth 

What the gracious donor giveth ; 

Yet expand your mental ear, 

And a verse of Pindar hear. . 
Pe. We shan’t get quit of him just yet, ’tis clear. 
Po. In the nomad Skythian’s plain 

Wanders ever, cold and lonely, 

Straton with a jerkin only; 

Jerkin only, ’tis notorious, 

Without tunic is inglorious. 

Duly comprehend the strain. 

Pei, You. want the tunic: that I comprehend. 


s 


ae 


945 


Come, strip: one must assist a poet friend, [Zo the slave. 


There, take it and be off. 

Po. I go: yet stay, 
The city must receive this parting lay. 
Seated on thy golden throne, 
Muse, prepare a noble ditty 
For the quivering, shivering city. 
To the snow-propelling zone, 
The many-path’d, I hied awa’, 

Tralalala ! 
Pet. But now the tunic’s on your back, my friend, 


Of quivering and of shivering there’s an end. [Hait Poet. 





ITO. 


IIEI. 
ITO. 


IIEL 


ITO. 


ITE]. 


EPEISODION II. 42 


et pn thy adt@ Sovtes arropevEovpeba. 
ovTos, od) pévTot orrodAdbda Kal yuTav’ yess, 
dmroév6t nal Sos TH wont TO TOP>H. 

[Zo one of the slaves. 
éye THv oTroAdda’ travras dé wot puyav Soxels. 935 
Tdde wey ov aéxovoa dira . 
Modca rode Sdpov Séyerac’ | 
Tv dé rea Gpevt pdbe mivddpecoy eros. 
EvOpwrros ipov ove atradraxOnoera. 940 
vouadeao. yap év {xvOas 
ardrat {rparwv, 
Ss vpavroddvatov éaOos ov mémarat’ 
axrens & Ba ororas avev yurovos. 
Evves 6 Tou Aéyo. 945 
Euvny’ bri Bovre tov yitwvloxov daBeiv. 
amroéu0s: Set yap Tov wromntny aderetv. [To the slave. 
amenOe tovrovt rAaBov. 

aTrépyopat, 
Kas THY TOMY y ENaY ToLnTw ToLadl’ 
KAnTOV, © xpvcdOpove, TAY Tpomepay Kpvepdv, 950 
vipoBora media moAvtopd T jAvOov" dnanai. 
yn tov A’ arr’ bn réhevyas tavtayl 
Ta xpvepa tovdt Tov yxiTwvicKov AaBwv. 985 
[Haut Poet. 





ACT ILI. 


I can’t conceive how to this rascal went 
Such early notice of our settlement. 


Boy, carry round again the laver. So. 


Silence ! 
| Enter a Soothsayer. 
Soo. Commence not on the goat. 
Pet. Hilloa ! 
What's here ? 
Soo. A soothsayer. 
Pe. Bad luck be thine ! 


Soo. Oast not contempt, great Sir, on things divine : 
Here is an oracle of Bakis : see: 
It fits Cloudcuckooborough perfectly. 
Pe. Then, ere I coloniz’d this city, why 
Came you not here, and sang your prophecy ? 
Soo. The spirit hindered then. 
Pe. Well, well! rehearse : 
There’s no great harm in listening to your verse. 
Soo. ‘But when the wolves and hoary crows unite 
To build ’twixt Sikyon and great Korinth’s height’— 
Pei. And with Korinthians what concern have I} 
Soo. This hint of Bakis indicates the sky. 
‘Bid first in honour of Pandora bleed 
A white-fleec’d ram: and then, as fitting meed 
For the first prophet who my songs shall bear, 


A goodly coat and sandals new prepare.’ 


970 


XPH. 
TIKI. 
XPH. 
ITED. 
XPH., 


TIEI. 


XPH. 


EPEISODION II. 43 


rout) pa Al éyo rd Kaxov ovdéror Amica, 
ota tayéws TovToy wemvaGae THY TrOALD. 
avOus avd meptympe. AaBov Thy yépviBa. 
evpnpla oro. 
Enter a Soothsayer, 
en KatapEn rod Tpayou. 
ov 8 el tis; . g60 
OTIS; NpPNopLoOAoYos. 
olpmté vuv. 
& Saudvie, ta Ocia wn havrws dépe’ 
eo» D . oy im 
ws éote Baxwdos ypnopcs avtixpus Aéyov 
és tas Nededoxoxxvyias. 
KATELTA TOS 
Py > 9 9» t \ es \ , 
TouT ovK eypnopodoyers od ply eue THY WoALW 
4 9 > / ' 
THVO OlKiCaL ; 965 


TO Octoy éverrodilé pe. 


TIEI. aad’ ovdéev olédyv dor axovoat tav érav. 


XPH. 


IIEL. 
XPH. 


GAN Stay oixnowot AVKOL TroALal TE KOpOVat 

ey ravt@ To petaEv KopivOov xal ZcKxvavos, 

tl ody tmpoonxes Ont enol KopwOlwv ; 

guiga o Baxis tovro mpos tov dépa. 970 
mpatov Ilavddpg Oicat Nevxotpixa Kptov" 

Os 6€ x éwov éréwy On rpaticta mpodyrns, 


T@ Souev inatioy xaSapov Kal Kawa médtAa, 


ACT IL. 


Pe. They're in it too, the sandals? 


Soo. : Take the book. 


And, furthermore, the prophecy commands 
‘To give a cup, and fill with tripe his hands,’ 
Pei. And giving tripe is in it? 


Soo. Take the book. 


‘And if thou doest my bidding, reverend Childe, 
An eagle in the clouds shalt thou be styled: 
But if thou giv’st not, never shalt thou prove 
Throstle or woodpecker or turtledove.’ 
Pei. And is all this included? 
Soo. Take the book. 
Pei, Your oracle is not like this of mine, 
Which I got copied from Apollo’s shrine. 
‘But when some swindler, uninvited there, 
Disturbs the sacrifice, and tripe would share, 
Let well-belabour’d ribs be all his fare.’ 


Soo. I think you're talking nonsense. 


Pei. % Take the book. 


‘Nor spare e’en eagle in the clouds, though he 
Or Lampon or great Diopeithes be.’ 


Ont, vermin, out: [Beats him. 90 


Soo. Alack and welladay ! 


Pei. Get out, and soothsay somewhere else: away ! 


[ait Soothsayer. 


EPEISODION IL | 44 


4 


TIE]. éveort wal ra wébira; 
XPH. —— -NaBE 7d: BuBALov. 

kal giadnv Sodvat, kal omdayyvev xeip év- 

TAHT AL 975 

TIEI. «at omrayyva Sobv Weare; 
XPH. — AaBE ro BuBAlov. 

kav pév, Oéorte Kodpe, tmroujs TAadO ws éemLTérro, 

aieros év vehérnot yevnoear’ ai dé xe pn Ses, 

ovK Eve OU Tpvyav, ov Adios, ov SpuKoXaTTNHs. 
THIEL, «ai rair’ fveor évradéa; 980 
XPH. | | AaBe +d BuBriov. 
TIED. ovdév dp’ buotds eo 6 ypnopds Toure, 

Ov éyd tapd.tatodXwvos éFeypayraunv’ 

avtap émiy axdntos idv dvOpwiros adalov 

AuTH Porras Kal omrayyvevew éeriOupy, 

b7 TOTe Kon TUTTEW avTOY WAEVPAY TO peTatV, 985 
XPH. ovdéy réyew olpuai ce, 
ITE]. ' AaBe tro BiBrIov. 

kar gheidov pndev pnd aierod ev vehérgow, 

pnt nv Adptrov 4 pnt nv 6 péyas AcomrelOns. | 


ov« el Oupal’; és Kopaxas. [Beats him. 990 - 
XPH. olpot SeiAatos. 
TIKI. ovxouy érépwoe ypnopodoyncets ExTpeyov 5 
| [Hat Soothsayer. 


ACT II. 


Enter METON. 

Me. I'm come to join you— . 

Pe. Here’s another pest. 
What are you come for? what’s the ideal thought, 
What the design, the boot, of this your journey? 

Me. I want to measure geometrically . 905 
Your atmosphere, and map it out in acres, 

Pet. And in heaven’s name, who are you? 

Me. Meton I, 
To Hellas and: Kolonos known. 

Pei, And these, 
What are they? 

Me. Rules for measuring the atmosphere. 
For instance, all the atmosphere in shape 1000 
Is like a stove, as near as can be: so 
When I my lineal fix, and from above 
Insert a pair of flexile compasses— 
You comprehend } 

Pe. I do not comprehend. 

Me. A straight rule I apply to measure with, 
That so your circle may become quadrangular, 1006 
With market-place i’ the middle, whither lead 
Straight roads converging to the very centre: 


And thus, as from a star, being circular, 





EPEISODION II. 45 


Enter Merton. 
ME." fx tap’ vas 
ITEI. Erepov av Tout) xaxdv. 
ti & av avd Spacwv; tis ida Bovrevdpatos ; 
tis % ’arlvowa, Tis 6 KoBopvos THs 0800; 
ME. yewpetpjeas BovrAopuar tov aépa 995 
viv Surety Te KaTa yvas. 
IIE. ampos tav Oeav 


od & el ris avdpav; 


ME. Satis elu; eyo Méroy, 
dv oldev “EXAds yo Kodwvds. 
ITE. elTré [L0t, 
tauti S€ cou Ti éorL; 
ME. Kavoves aépos. 
autixa yap anp éots thv idéav bros 1000 


\ 4 U \ 9 > \ 
Kata Tvuyéa pandora. mpoabeis ovy éyo 
Tov Kavoy, avw Sé€ TovTovi TOY KapTrUNOV 
évOeis Sia Byrnv—pavOavecs ; 
TIEI. ov pavbavo. 
ME. 6p0@ petpnow xavove mpootibeis, iva 
O KUKNOS YyévnTal Gol TeTpaywvoS, KaV peTm 1005 
ayopa, pépovaa & aow eis avrny obdol 
3 A > 8 Q 4, of > > a 
op0al mwpos avro To pécov, @aTrep 8 actépos 


avTod KuKNoTEpods OvTos épOal trayTayi 


ACT II. 
Straight rays may flash their light in all directions. 
"Pei. The man’s a second Thales. Meton— 1010 

Me. Well? 

Pe. Vm your good friend, believe me; take my counsel, 
And move, without disturbance, out o’ the way. 

Me. What danger is there? 

Pei. As in Lakedaemon, 
Aliens are banish’d, feelings are excited, 
And many stripes are stirring through the city. 

Me. Is discord raging here? 


Pet. No, not at all, 1015 
Me. What is the matter then? 
Pet. In perfect concord 


We are resolved to kick out every humbug. 
Me. I must be gone then. 
Pei. Yes: I’m not quite sure 
You've time: here are the stripes, impending now. 
[Beats him. 
Me. Me miserable! 
Pei. Didn’t I give you warning? 


Remeasure yourself and be off elsewhere. [Hit Meton. 1020, 


Enter an Inspector, 
Ins. Where are the consuls? 


TIEI, 


ME. 
TIEI. 


ME. 
TEI. 


ME. 
TIEI. 
ME. 

TEI. 


ME. 
IIEI. 


ME. 
IIE. 


EII. 


EPEISODION II. 46 


axtives aTro\apTroct. 
&vOpmtros Barns. 
Mérov 1010 
th got; 
lo0 Stu) Gide o° eyes, 
xapol miOdmevos viratroxives THs Gdod. 
ti 8 éotl Sewvov; 
@otrep év Aaxedaipove 
Eevnvateiras Kal Kexivnvras dhpéves’ 
TAnyal cvyval Kat’ actu. 
pov otaciatete ; 
pa tov AY od Oar 1015 
GNX Tes; 
opoOupaddov 
arodety atravras Tovs adalovas Soxel. 
vrayounl Tap’ av. | 
vy A’ os ovK old dp’ e& 
pOains dv’ érixewrar.ydp éyyls avtail. [Beats him. 
olmot KaKkodaimon. | 
oux édXeyov eyo Tanat; 
OUK AvaLETPHOELS TaUTOV aTLWV GAY] ; 1020 
[ Lait Meton. 
Enter an Inspector. 


A P 
Tov mpokevot ; 


ACT II. 
Pet. Who's this dainty don? 
Ins. I’m an inspector by the bean elected 
To this Cloudcuckooborough. 


Pet. An inspector ? 
Who sent you here? —_ 
Ins. A certain trumpery warrant 
Of Teleas. 1025 


Pei. Will you take your salary then, 
Not bore us, but be gone } 

Ins. With all my heart. 
I wish’d to stay at home and sit in parliament: 
Some foreign business I have done with Pharnakes, 


Pei. Take it and go then. That’s your salary. [Beats him. 


Ins. What's this? 1030 
Pe. A sitting of the house on Pharnakes. 
Ins. I call you all to witness I am beaten, 

I, an inspector. 
Pe. Shoo! shoo! won’t you scud, 


And take your brace of ballot-boxes with you? [Hait Inspector. 
Now is not this a scandal? To our city 
Already they are sending out inspectors 
Before our sacrifices are performed. 
Enter a Plebiscite-vendor. 


Ple. ‘If any Cloudcuckooburgess wrong an Athenian—’ 1095 


IIEI. 
EIII. 


TIEI. 
EIII, 
IIEI. 


EIT. 


IIEI. 


EIIT. 
ITEI. 
EIT. 
TEI. 


WH. 


EPEISODION II. 47 


tls 6 Yapdavaranrnros ovtoat ; 
éricxorros HKw Seipo TH KuaL@ Aayov 
és tas Nededoxoxxvyias. 
| émrloKotros ; 
Ereurpe Sé tis oe Setpo; 
dairov BiBrLov 
TerX€ou Te. 1025 
Bovre Sita tov picOdov AaBoy 
#1) Tpaypar’ eye GAN arriévat ; 
yn tous GOeovs. 
éxkAnotacas yovv edeopny olkoe pévav. 
Gori yap & 80 éuod wémpaxrar Papvacn. 
amit AaBov' éorw 8 6 pucOos ovtoci. 
[Beats him. 
TouTl Ti nV; 1030 
‘ éxxdnoia wept Papvaxov. 
papTupopar TUTTOpEVvos BY eTricKoTOS. 
OvK aTrocoByaes; ovK atrolces TO Kaba; 
[ait Inspector. 
ov Sewa; nal réutrovaw 45n ‘rioKoTrous 


és Thy mod, ply Kat TeOvcOas Tots Oeois; 


Enter a Plebiscite-vendor. 


éay & 6 Nedhedoxoxxuyteds Tov "AOnvaiov adixy 1035 
\ 


ACT II. 


Pe. What plague again is here? what ata aa 
Ple. Vendor of plebiscites am I; new laws 
I’m come amongst you here to sell. 
Pe. Sell what ? 
Ple. ‘For Cloudcuckooburgesses we decree that all the 
measures and weights shall be the same as those of Poland.’ 10% 
Pei. Yours soon shall be the same as those of Woland. 


[Beats him. 
Ple. Sir, what do you mean? — | 
Pet. Go, take away your laws. 
T'll sharpen them for you to-day, those laws. 1045 


[Hatt Plebiscite-vendor. 
Ins. [from the side I summon Peithetairos for assault, 
to appear at the April sessions without default, 
Pe. Oh, really, youre amongst us, are you, still? | 
Ple. [from the side]. ‘If any shall drive out the magistrates, 
and not receive them, as the column states —’ 1050 
Pe. O cruel fate! and you're amongst us still? 
Ins. [from the side]. Tl ruin you in damages, I will. 
T’ll lay them at ten thousand drachmas, Sir. 
Per. Il scatter to the winds your ballot-boxes. 
Ins. [from the side]. Your insult to the column once at even, 
Remember that. | 
Pet. Faugh, faugh! let some one seize him. 
Oh, you won't tarry, won't you 1—From this place 1035 
Let us as soon as possible go in 
And sacrifice unto the gods the goat. [Hxeunt all but Chorus. 





ITEI. 
WH. 


IIEI. 
WH. 


ITE]. 
WH. 
IIEI. 


EIII. 


IIE]. 
WH. 


ITEI. 
KITT, 


IIEI. 
BITI. 


IIEI. 


EPEISODION II. 48 


touTl th éotiv av xaxov; Ti to BuBXiov; 
andioparoterns eipl Kal vopous véous 
Hew tap vas Sedpo Twdyncor. 
70 Th; 

xpiobar NedeXoxoxnuytas Tots avrois méTpoce Kal 1040 
orabmoter Kat voplopace xabarrep ’Ordodvésor. 
avd 6é y' olamep wrotugion ypnoe Taya. [Beats him. 
ovros Th maces ; 

ove atrolaets TOUS vomouSs ; 


muKpovs éyad cor thmepoy SelEw vdpous. 045 
[ Lacit Pitisiteaender 


xarovpat IlevBérarpov vBpews és Tov pouvuyrdva. 
[From the side. 


drnbes, odtos; ere yap évradl’ yoba av; 

day Sé tis é£eXavvy Tovs apxovtas Kat wy Séynras 1050 
KaTa THY oTNHAND, [From the side. 
olwor xaxodalpwv, Kal od yap évtadl ih ere; 


Gro\@ ce Kal yparw oe puplas Spa 
From the side, 


éyo 8é cot ye ta Kado SiacKeda. 


péuvno bre tTHS oTHANS KaTeTiNas éoTrépas ; 
[From the side. 


aiBot’ NaBérw tis avTov. ovTos, ov pevels; 1085 
td s e a e / > 
dvriopev nuels ws Taxytor évtrevOevi 


Ovcovtes elaw tois Oeotor tov Tpayov. 
[Haeunt all but Chorus. 


7 


ACT II. 


(Ode) 
Cho. Through the coming ages now 
With the sacrifice and vow 
Mortals shall to me be praying, 
Me the allseeing and allewaying, 1060 
Me whose active sight extends ~ 
To the earth's extremest ends. 
I preserve the blooming fruit, 
Slaying every noaxious brute: 
Such as with rapacious jaw 
Under ground the rootlets gnaw ; 1085 
Such as, lurking in the boughs, 
On the budding fruitage browze ; 
I destroy the loathsome swarm 
That with foul pollution harm 
All the garden's fragrant charm: 
Biting creatures, creatures crawling, 
Bleed beneath my pinions sprawling. 1070 
(Epirrhema) 
Specially, however, it is notified to-day, 
Melian Diagoras if any of you slay, 
Your reward’s a talent; and a talent for the head 
Shall be paid of any of the tyrants that are dead. 1075 
Also we do thus declare our high and mighty will :— 
Sparrower Philokrates if any of you kill, 
You will get a talent; if alive he’s taken, four; 
For he strings and sells the finches at a groat a score, 
Blows the fieldfares out and shews ’em with insulting grin, 1080 
To the nozzles of the blackbirds sticks the feathers in ; 








XO. 


PARABASIS II. 49 


non ‘pol T@ mavtTorrTa @on 

kat Twavrapya Ovnrot mates 

O@vcove’ evxtaias evyais. | 1060 

wacav pev yap yay omteva, 

colo & eOanreis xaptrovs 

KTelvov TraydvrAwy yévvav 

O@npav, xa tmavr’ év yaia 

éx Kadvkos avEavopnevoy yévvot trapdayots 1065 

Sévdpecl rt éfeloueva xaprrov droBdockerac’ 

xreiva & ot KyTrovs evwdels 

Pbelpovaew AvVpas ey Oiorass, 

épmetd te kal Saxeta trav0 dcarrep 

gor vm éemas mrépvyos év govais dNAvTaL. 1070 
[émdppnua 

THe wévToe Onuépg parior’ érravaryopeveran, 

ny atoxtelyy tis vpa@v Atayopay Tov Mnruov, 

AapBSavew TaravtTov, nv Te TOY TUpavywV Tis TWA 

tav teOynxoTwy datroxteivy, TaNaYTOY NapBavew. 1075 

BovrdpecOa vuv aveireiy tavta yrpets evOadl: 

qv atoxtelvy tis vay Diroxpatn tov Ytpovov, 

Apperas Tadavtov, Hv Se Cov Tis ayayn, Térrapa, 

drt cuveipwy Tos aomlvous wre Kal? éra ToUBoAdd, 

elra guodv tas xixras Selxvuct Kal Avpaiverat, 1080 

Trois Te xorvplyotow és tds pivas eyyel Ta TWrepa, 


7—2 


ACT II, 


Pigeons that he catches in his cages all are set, 
And must be decoy-birds for him, fastened in a net. 
Thus do we proclaim. And if by any of you men 
Birds are kept in aviaries, let them loose again. 1085 
Our police shall seize you, if this warning you defy, 
And in penal servitude decoying men you'll lie. 
(Antode) 
Happy are the feathered folk, 
Who in winter wear no cloak; 1000 
And the summer does not burn us 
With its hot farflashing furnace: 
But m flowery meads I dwell, 
Lingering oft m leafy dell, 
When the inspired cicala’s gladness, 1095 
Swelling into sunny madness, 
Filleth all the fervid noon 
With its shrill and ceaseless tune. 
But throughout the wintry day 
In some hollow cave I stay 
With the mountain nymphs at play. 
Myrtle-berries, spring-bedew'd, 
White and tender, are my food, 
And a thousand delicacies 
From the gardens of the Graces. 1100 
(Antepirrhema) 
On the victory I wish a word or two to say, 
How the judges all will gain by voting for our play, 
Getting better gifts than those of Paris far away. 1104 
First—for more than anything each judge has this at heart— 


- PARABASIS IL 50 


tas tjepiotepas OF spuolws EvArNaBev elpEas ser, 

KatravayKate. tradevew Sedeuévas ey Suxrvg. 

taita BovAcuer® avevreiv’ nel tis ’pviOas Tpépes 

eipypévous vuav év avry, ppalopev peOrévar. _—_ 1085 

ny Sé py wiOncbe, cvdAAnPOEVTES VITO TaY Gpvéwy 

avOis vpets av wap piv Sedeuévoe rradevoere. 
evdaimov hirov mrrnvav avtT@on 

oiwveav, of yetwwvos pev 

yralvas ovK aprioyvodvras: 1090 

ovS av Oeppn mviryous nuas 

axtls Tndauyns Oadrrev’ 

GAN avOnpav Aeypwovev 

duArwv «dros évvala, 

ivi av 6 Oecrécios of0 pédos ayéras 1095 

Oarrect peonuBpivois nAvopavns Bog. 

nerpato 5 éy xoidous avtpous 

puppars ovpetats Euptralfov" 

npwa te Booxdpcba rrapbéna 

NeuvxdTpoda pwvpta Xapitwy re «nwevpata. 1100 
| [avremlppypa 

Tots Kpitais eimety te BovrAdpecOa THs viens Tépt, 

b0° aya’, iv Kplywow judas, Waow avTois Sacopmer, 

@ote Kpeirto Sapa ToAA@ Tov 'AreEdvSpou AaBeiv. 

TpPOTA pev yap ov partoTa Tas KpiTHs edlerat, 1108 


ACT II. 


Never shall the Lauriotic owls from you depart, 
But shall in your houses dwell, and in your purses too 
Nestle close, and hatch a brood of little coins for you. 
Furthermore we'll bid you live in temples like the gods, 
Eagle-fashion’d pinnacles adorning your abodes. 1110 
If, in some poor office plac’d, to pilfering you incline, 
We will lend a small sharp hawk to favour your design ; 
Craws too we will send you when youre going out to dine. 
But if you reject us, then let each a little shed 
Forge, like lunes o’er statues, as a shelter for his head; 1115 
Lest, without it when you walk in clean and white attire, 
All the birds their vengeance take by covering you with mire. 
Enter PEITHETAIROS. 

Pei. Our sacrifices, Birds, are favourable: 
But from the works no messenger arrives 
To tell us how the business there goes on. 1120 
Nay, here comes one at last, and running too 


And panting in the true Alphean style. 


Enter First Messenger. 
First M. Where, where is—where, where, where is—where 
is he, 
The archon Peithetairos? 
Pei, He is here. 
First M. Your wall is finish’d. 











TIEI. 


EPEISODION III. 51 


yNavKes Upas ovToT émAcipovot NavpLoriKat: 
GAN évoixnoovow evdov, & te trois BadXavtioss 
éyveottevoovat KakNéYovot pupa Képuata. 

elra impos TovToicw w@aoTrep ev lepots oixynoere 

tas yap vpav oirlas épérouev mpos aerov’ 1110 
Kav Nayovres apxlS:ov elf dpracar BovrAnobé tA, 
ofdv lepaxlaxov és tras xelpas vuiv Sdcopev. 

A 4 a A ec a A 

hv 8€ wou Sevrvnte, mpnyopavas viv méurpopmev. 

qv Sé pn Kpivnte, yarxeverOe pnvicxovs popety 

e ¢ D el Se See ee, 1 a? 

@oTep avdpiavtes’ ws VuaV Os ay un HV xy, 1115 
Srav éynte xravida AevKny, Tore parioH obrw Sixnv 


Sdoc? nyuiv, maou Tois Opyict KaTAaTLAwpEVOL. 


Enter PEITHETAIROS, 


Ta pev tép npiv éotiv, dpviOes, rard' 
GAN ovK aid Tov relyous mapecriy ayyeNos 
ovdels Stov mevodpueOa TaKxel Tpayyara. 1120 


GNX’ ovtoot rpéyves Tis "AAdevdv arvéwv. 


Enter First Messenger. 


3 A 
AI’. A rod rod ott, 10d Tov Tod ott, TOD TOD TOD ‘OTL TOD 


ITE]. 


mov IlecOérapés éorw dpyovr; 


ovrocl. 


AD. A é&pxodéunral cot to tetyos. 


ACT IL. 


Pet. , hanks for your good tidings. 
Furst M. A very noble and magnificent structure. 1126 
So vast the breadth is, that upon the top | 
Proxenides of Bragham and Theogenes 
Could drive two passing chariots clear, with steeds 
Big as the wooden one of old. 
Pei. | Great Herakles ! 
Furst M. The height (I measured it myself) is just 190 
A hundred fathoms, 
Pei. What a height, Poseidon ! 
Who built it up to such enormous size? | 
Furst M. Birds and none else: no bricklayer of Aegypt, 
No stonehewer was there, no carpenter : 
With their own hands they did it, to my marvel. 1135 
There came from Libya thirty thousand cranes, 
All having swallowed down foundation stones, 
Which with their beaks the rails still aptly shaped: 
Another party of ten thousand storks 
Were brickmakers: and water from below 
The plovers and the other wading birds 


Were raising up into the higher air. 1140 
Pet. And who conveyed the mortar for them? | 
Furst M. . Herons, 

In hods. 


Pes. And how did they get in the mortar? 








EPEISODION III. 


IIEI. ev Aéyers. 

AT. A xdAd\torov Epyov nal peyadorpetréctatoy’ 
@or dv érava pev Ipokevibns 6 Kopzraceds 
kat @eoyévns évaytiw Sv’ appare, 

Urtrav virovrav péyeOos Baov 6 Sovptos, 


dard Tod wWAdTOUS ay TrapeNacaiTny. 


ITE. - “Hpdedets. 

AT. A rd 5é piads éort, eal ydp euérpyo’ abr’ eyo, 
éxaTovToporyutoy. 

ITEI. @® IIdcedov, rod padxpous. 


tives @xodounoay avTo THALKouTOVl ; 

AI. A SpviBes, ovdels GAXos, ovK avyviTrrios 
arwOopopos, ov ALGoupyds, ov TéxTwY TrapHy, 
GAN avréyepes, Gore Oavydlew ep. 
éx pév ye AtBuns Feov os Tproepvpras 
yépavot Oeyedious xatatrernrmxviat LOous. 
tovtous © érvxufov ai Kxpéxes Tois paudeawy. 
érepot S érdwOovpyouv medapyol pvptot’ 
Ydwp 5 épdpouv xarwOev és roy dépa 
ai yapadpiol nab tddXa TroTaue Spvea. 

TIEI. érndodopovy & avtoias tives; 

AT, A épwovot 
NeKavaic'. 


TIE, Tov S€ mwnddv éveBarXovrTo Was; 


52 


1125 


1130 


1135 


1140 


ACT II. 


First M. That was the cleverest device of all, Sir. 
The geese with their web-feet, as though with spades, 1146 
Dipp’d down, and laid it neatly on the hods. 
Pei. What feat indeed may not be wrought by feet? 
First M. Ay, and the ducks, by Jove, all tightly girt, 
Kept carrying bricks, and other birds were flying 
With trowel on their heads, to lay the bricks... 1150 
And then, like children sucking lollipops, 
The swallows minced the mortar in their mouths, 
Pet. Why should one hire paid labourers any more? 
Well now, what next? who were the birds that wrought 
The woodwork of the fort? 
Furst M. Skill’d carpenters, 
The yellow-hammers: with their hammering beaks 1155 
They finish’d off the gates: the noise they made 
In hammering was exactly like a shipyard. 
The fortress has its portals firmly fitted, 
Supplied with bolts and bars, and guarded round: 
The beats are paced: the bell is borne: the watch 1160 
At every point established, and the beacons 
Set on the towers.—But I must run away 


And clean myself. Look you, Sir, to the rest. 
[Hatt First Messenger. 
Cho. Sir, what’s the matter with you? do you marvel 


ee 











EPEISODION III. 53 


AT. A rod’, dyal’, éEnvpnto Kal copdrara’ 


TEL 
AI. A 


TIEL. 


AT. A © 


XO. 


ot XAves UroTUTTOVTes Homwep Tals dpacs 1145 
és tas XNexdvas évéBarXov avtoty Totv trodotv. 
vi 8nta médes ay ovx dv épyacalato; 
cat vn AC ai varral ye wepteLwopevar 
érAwOoddpovv’ dvw Se tov viraywyéa 
émérovr &yovoau KatoTW. . . . 1150 

Bomep tradla 
TOV mndov év TOlS oTopacw ai yedddves. 
tt Sra picOwrovs dy ere picBoird tis; 
dép’ dw, ti Sal; rd EvrAwa rod relyous rlves 
atreipyacayt ; 
Spviles Hoav réxroves 
copwraros meNexayres, of Tois paypeow 1155 
atremeNexnoav tas muAas’ nv & 6 KTUTFOS 
QUTaY TedkeKwoVTMOY woTeEp ev vavinyiy. 
Kal viv arravr’ éxeiva TwemuNwTaL TUNALS 
kal BeBaravwrae xal pudratrerar KvUEdy, 
épodeverat, xwdwvopopetrar, TavTayy 1160 
duraxal xabeornkact kal dpvetwplat 
éy totot mrupyos. GAN eyo pey atroTpéxov 
Grovifyoua’ av 8 avros 75 TaddXNa Spa. 

[ait Furst Messenger. 

ovros tl touts; dpa Oauudleus dre 


ACT IL 


The fortress hae been finish’d with such speed! 1 
Pe. Ay, by the gods: a wondrous work it B- 
In very truth ic looks to me like fiction. 
Bat wait a2 moment: here’s 2 messenger, 
One of the guards from thence, who's running to ws 
Wh face a3 martial as a pyrrhich-dance. 
Enter Second Memenzer. 
Second M. What ho! what ho! what ho’ what ho! what ho! 
Pa. Well, what's the matter? m7 
Second M. Very shameful treatment! 
One of those gods from Zeus’s place just now 
All anobeerved of our day-scouts, the jayn 
Poi. O shameful deed and unendurable! 106 
Which of the gods? 
Second HM. We know not. Wings it had, 
We know. 
Pe. Your course then, surely, was to launch 
Some yeomanry upon its track. 
Second M. We did: 
Our mounted archers, thirty thousand hawks, 
We sent, all riding with their claws acrook, 1190 
Falcon and buzzard, vulture, nightjar, eagle: 
Hark! with the rush and whirring of their wings 


TIED. 


EPEISODION III. 


o’tm TO Telyos exTeTelyioralt TAXU ; 

vn tovs Beors eywye’ nal yap dfiov' 

loa yap adds dalveral pos yeddeow. 
arr’ be PurAaE ydp Tav éxeiBev dryyedos 
éoOei mrpos nas Sedpo mruppiyny Brérrov. 


Enter Second Messenger. 


AI.B fod tov, tov tov, tov tov. 


ITE]. 
AT. B 


TEI. 


AI’. B 


NEI. 


AD. B 


tl td mpaypa TovTi; 
Seevdrara tremrovOapev. 
Tav yap Oeav tis aprt Tay Tapa Tod Atos 
Sid. Tay muddy eicétrer’ és Tov dépa, 
Aabav KoroLods dvdaKkas jmepooKérrous. 
® Sewov Epyov wal oxétrduoy eipyacpevos. 
tis tav Bear; 
ovx iopev’ bre & elye mrepd, 
Toor ltopev. 
ovKouy Oita TepuTroXous expny 
méprpas kar’ avrov evOus; 
Gn’ éréurrapev 
Tpiopuplous tépaxas tmrmoroforas, 
xopet Se mas tis Svuyas jryKudwpévos, 
Kepxvys, Tpropyns, yr, Kvpwvdes, derds® 
puen Te Kal mrepoior Kat porlnpacw 


54 


1165 


1170 


1175 


1180 


ACT II. 


All ether shudders, as they seek the god. 
Far off it cannot be: indeed I think 
"Tis here already. 1185 
Pe. Must we not get slings 
And bows and arrows? Henchmen all, look out: 
Shoot, smite: supply me, some one, with a sling. 
[ait Peithetairos with Second Messenger. 


Cho. War 18 rising, war surprising, Strophe. 
War between the gods and me; 
So let every watchbird see 1190 


That this, the child of Erebos, 

Our cloud-encircled atmosphere, 

Be guarded strictly, far and near, 

Lest any god should pass unseen of us. 1195 
Look out, look out, each careful scout, around, about. 

Some daemon’s whirling through the lofty sky: 

Even now the wingéd sound approaches nigh. 


Iris appears flying across the scene. 


PEITHETAIROS re-entering. 


Pe. Ho, madam, whither, whither, whither flying? 
Stay quiet there; be still; restrain your course. 1200 
Who and what are you? Whence arrived? declare. 
Iris. I’m from the realm of the Olympian gods. 
Pei, And what are we to call you? bark or bonnet? 
Iris. Swift Iris, 
Pei. Paralus or Salaminia? 








IIEI. 


XO. 


ITEI. 


IPI 


ITEI. 


IPIZ 
TIED. 


EPEISODION III. 55 


aiOnp Sovetras tod Beod Enroupévou' 
dor ov paxpav arwdev, ddr évradOd srov 
non “oTiv. 1185 
ovxody odevdovas Set NapBdvew 
wal téEa* ywper Sedpo mas virnpérns’ 
Tofeve, trate, apevdovny tis por ddra. 
[Haut Peithetairos with Second Messenger. 
ToAELoS alpetat, TOAELOS OU datos 
mpos éuée Kal Oeovs. adda hvAaTTE Tas 1190 
dépa mepwéderov, Sv &peBos éréxero, 
yn oe AdOn Oedv tus TavTy TEepav’ 1195 
GOpe. Sé was KvKXM oKoTO?, 
ws éyyds 78n Saluovos tedapalov 
Sins mrepwros POdyyos éEaxoverat. 


Iris appears flying across the scene. 


PEITHETAIROS re-entering. 


aitn av tot; trot Trot méTev; pév Hovyos, 
” 3 4 ‘* b A af)’. 3 A , 
&’ atrpéuas’ avrod ot érlaoyes tod Spdpov. 1200 
tls el; wodamn; Aéyew expny omoOev aét’ el. 
A cad 4 Aa 9 4 
mapa tév Oedy eywye THY GNuptioD. 
Svopa 5é oot Ti dott; TAolov 7 KUVT; 
"Ipes Tayeia. 


Waparos 7 cadapwvia; 


ACT II. 


Iris. What means this? 1206 
Pe. ' ‘Won’t some buzzard soar and seize her? 
Iris, Seize me? What mischief’s here? 

Pes. We'll make you smart. 


Iris. All this is monstrous folly. 
Pei. | By what gate 
Came you within the fort, you shameless jade? 
Iris, I have no notion, really, by what gate. 1210 
Pei. You hear how she prevaricates. Did you 
Appear before the jay-chiefs? Won't you answer? 
Have you a samaset from the storks? 
Iria. What atuff’s this 


Pet. You've got none} 


Iris. Are you sane} 
Pei, | Did no bird-captain 
Attend and set a label on your person? 1215 


Iria. None set a label on my person, wretch. 
Pet, And would you with such silent secrecy 
Fly through a foreign city and through Ohaos/ 
Iris. And by what other road are gods to fly? 
Pe. I have no notion, really; not by this. 1220 


You're guilty, let me tell you: long ere now 


IPIS, 
ITE, 


IPI> 


HEI. 
IPI> 
IIEI. 


IPI> 
ITEI, 


IPI> 
TITEL 
IPI, 
IIE, 


IPI 
TIED. 


IPI> 
TIEI. 


EPEISODION III. 56 


ti 5é TovTo; 1205 
TavTnvi Tis OU TUAAHWeETAL 
GVATTOMEVOS TPLOPXOS ; 
cue ovrArn eras; 
ri wor éotl rovtl TO KaKov; 
oipaEes papa. 
aromoyv ye Toutl mwpaypa. 
Kata wolas was 
elanrOes és TO TEelyos, @ plapwTarn; 
ovx olda pa Ai eéywye kata crolas quvXas. 1210 
qKovoas avTns olov eipwveverat; 
mpos Tods KoNoLapyous TpoonAes; ov Ayers; 
ogpayid’ éyeis wapd Tay Tedapyav ; 
TL TO KaKOV; 
ovx édaBes; 
Uytaivers pév; | 
ovoe cupBorov 
éréBarev cpviPapyos ovdeis cos trapdv; 1215 
pa AL ov« Euouy éréBarev ovdels, @ pére. 
kadrreita 870° oltTw oiwmy Statrétres 
Sia Tis Todews THS AAXOTPias Kab Tod ydous; 
qwola yap addAAy xpn wétecOas Tors Oeovs; 
ovx olda pa Ai’ éywye’ THSE wey yap ov. 1220 


adixets 84. xal viv dpa y olaba rovd’ ote 











ACT II. 


You ought to have heen seized and put to death, 
No Iris in the world with greater justice, 
If you'd got your deserts. | 
Iris. But I’m immortal. 
Pet. You should have died in spite of that. Our case 
Will be a cruel one, methinks, if, whilst 
We're ruling all the rest, you. gods alone 
Take every kind of license, not yet knowing 
That you in your turn must obey your betters. 
But tell me, whither do you steer your wings? 
Iris, What, I? Im flying on my father’s errand, 
To bid men offer to the Olympian gods, 
And on their bullock-sacrificing hearths 
To slaughter sheep, and fill the streets with savour. 
Pei, What's this you’re saying? Offer to what gods? 


Iris. What gods? to us, the gods that are in heaven. | 


Pe. Are you then gods? 
Iris. What other gods exist ? 
Pei. Birds unto men are gods: to them must men 
Now sacrifice, and not, by Jove, to Jove. | 
Iris, © fool, fool! anger not the hearts of gods, 
But fear, lest Justice with the spade of Zeus 
Thy race in utter ruin overthrow, 
The torch thy body and thy circling domes 
Reduce to.cinders with Likymnian bolts. 


. 1225 


1230 


1235 


1240 





IPI> 
IIE. 


IPIS 


EPEISODION III. 57 


Sicatotat av Andbeica tracay “Ipidwv 
améOaves, et THs akids éruyyaves ; 
GAN adavatos eip’. 
GX buws dv aébaves. 
, / / % 9 a 
Sewvorata yap Tot TewcopecO’, enol Soxety, 1225 
el TOV pey GArAwy dpEopmev, vuscis 8 of Oeol 
9 A 2Q7 4 > of 
akoN\acTaveite, Kovdéerra yvdcerO Ort 
3 ” ea 3 a / 
axpoaté vuiv év pépes Tav KpevTTOvan. 
U , \ / A A 
dpacov Sé rol poe ta wrépuye Tot vavoToXels; 
9 \ 3 , , \ A \ 
éyw; wpos avOpwrrovs TétTopal Tapa TOD TraTpos 1230 
, ’ a 9 4 a 
gpacovoa Ovew trois orvptriots Oeois 
Lnrochayeiy te BovOutots én’ éoydpass 
Kvioay T ayuias. 
Ti ov Aé€yets; Trolots Oeois; 
crroloiaw; uly Tois év ovpave Oeoi 
VY; nutly Tois pave Oeois. 
Geol yap vpeis; 1235 
tis yap éot dAXdos Geos; 
Spyies avOpwrrace viv eiow OBeoi, 
ols Ovréov avrovs, ard pa AL ov te Adi. 
@ pape, uope, un Ocav xiver ppévas, 
f ¢ , , , 
deloas Orrws un cou yévos TravedcOpov 
‘ , A 3 , U 
Avos pakédXAn av avaotpéewer dixn, 1240 
Mypods 5€ cdua nal Sduwv tepurTvyas 


kataldadwoes cov AtKkupviats Bodais. 


8—2 


ACT II. 


Pet. Hark’ee, my lady! cease your shrewish rant; 
Be still; with words like these, I wish to know, 
Lydian or Phrygian do you think to scare? 1245 
If Zeus disturb us longer—mark me well— 
His palace and Amphion’s domes will I 
Reduce to cinders with fire-carrying eagles: 
And, warring on him, I'll despatch to heaven 
Magogian birds, in pardskin uniforms, 1250 
Above six hundred by the tale; and once ; 
He found a single Magog troublesome. 
Iris. Perdition seize you, wretch, with your vile language. 
Pet. Shoo! shvo! be off, and suddenly: quick march! 
fris, My sire will quell your insolence, I swear. 
Pei. Dear, dear! how very sad! come, fly away, 1260 
Fly, and reduce to cinders some small child. [Hot Iris. 
Cho. We're excluding all intruding 
Of the Jove-descended gods; 
Through our fortified abodes 
Never may they travel more. 
Nor by this road to gods again 


Shall savour rise of victims slain 


On any mortal’s sacrificial floor. 1265 
Pei. Too bad! that herald who was sent to mortals, 
It seems as if he never would return, 1270 
Enter Herald. 


Herald. O Peithetairos, O thou blest, thou wisest, 





EPEISODION III. 58 


IIE]. dkxovooyv, aity waite trav wafpdiacpatov' 
éy’ atpéua. ép ida, wétepa Avdov 7 Dpvya 
tautl rAéyouca popporuTrecGar Soxeis; 1245 
ap olc@ bre Zevs ef pe AvIrnoet répa, 
pérAaOpa pev avrod Kat Sdopuous ’Apdlovos 
xataOarwow tTuppopoicw GaeETors; 
méurw 5¢ mopduplwvas és Tov ovpavov 
Bovis em’ avTcy Twapdarads évnupévous 1250 
mreiv éEaxoolovs Tov apiOpov. Kat dn wore 
els trophuplwy avt@ mapéoye Wpaypyara. 

IPIS, Stappayeins, & pér’, avrots pyyacwv. 

TIE]. ov« drocoBnces, ov trayéws; evpak tara€. 

IPIS 9 pny ce ravoe Ths UBpews ovpes TaTHp. 

IIEI. otuot tadas. ovKxovv érépwoe trerowévn 1260 
katavbaradcoeas Tav vewTépwy TWA; [Zarit Iris. 

XO. = atroxexAnKapev Sioyevets Oeovs ! 
pnxéte Thv éunv Siatrepayv trod, 
pndé rev’ tepdOutov ava Samedov av re 1265 
tHde Bporay Oeotoe mréutrey Katrvov. 

TLEI. Sewov ye tov xnpuxa tov mapa tods Bporovs 


5 
olyopevov, eb pndétroTte vootncEL Tat. 1240 


Enter Herald. 


KH. @ IleOérap’, db paxdp’, & codsérate, 


ACT II, 


O thou thrice blest and noblest, O thou smoothest, 


Call silence, O call silence. 


Pe. What’s your news? 


Herald. All people crown you with this golden crown 


For your sagacious tact, and honour you. 


1275 


Pet. Thanks! Why am I thus honoured of the people? 


Herald. O founder of a most illustrious 
Etherial city, are you not aware | 
What honour you have won in men’s esteem, 
How many are enamoured of this land? 
Until this city was establish’d by you, 
All men had been Lakonomaniacs; — 
They wore long hair, they fasted, they went dirty 
Like Sokrates, they carried skytal-staves : 
But now, converted, they’ve become birdmaniacs, 
And in this new delight do everything 
That’s done by birds, in mimicry of them. 
First, when they wake at early morn, they'll fly 
Together all to pasture, like ourselves, 
And then they'll settle down upon the books, 
And there continue feeding on decrees. 
So manifestly bird-mad are they that 
To many men are given the names of birds. 
One limping shopkeeper they call a partridge: 
Menippus is a swallow, and Opuntius 


An eyeless raven; Philokles a lark ; 


1285 


1290 


ITEI, 
KH. 


IIEI. 
KH. 


EPEISODION III. 


@ Tplofmakapt, wm KAEWoTaT, @ yAadhupwTaTe 
lA t 
@ KATAKENEUTOV, KATAKENEUTOD. 

Tl av réyets; 
orehavy oe ypva@ tade codias o’vexa 
oTepavoiat Kal Tim@aow ob TavTEes NEW. 

4 ¢ >] of e A un 
Séyouar. ti S ovTws ot Ae Tipadl pe; 

@ KAXewotarnv aidéptov oixlaoas trod, 
ovk ola” bony tiny wap avOpdros éper, 
4 > 93 a a 4 ” 
ogous T éepactas thade THS Ywpas Exess. 
mpl pev yap oixlcat oe THvde THY ToL, 
éXNakwvoyavouv &travtes avOpwirot Tore, 
exouwy, éreivav, eppiTav, éswxpaTwr, 
éoxutadtopopouy’ viv 8 viroctpéeyavtes at 


9 A 4 b] € \ a € A 
opyiGopavotot, wavta 8 vimre ths ndovns 


qmovvow arep Opviles éxutpovmevor’ 


A 9 \ , ? 2 A ef 
mpa@rov pev evOds tmavres é€ evvns apa 
> 7 g ¢ 6 or € am 9-4 é : 
érerovd twlev womrep auets eri vowdy 
Kamer dv ua xatnpov és ta BiBXa* 
elr’ dv évéuovr’ évraida ta ~Wwndicpara. 


apviGonavouy § ovtw twepipavas wate Kat 


“ToNNoiow opvidwy ovouat jv Keipeva. 


mwépx& pev els Kamnros wvouatero 
xords, Mevirarm § hv yerrdadv rovvopa, 


‘Orrovvtiw 8 odOarpov ovK éywv Képa, 


59 


1275 


1280 


1285 


1290 


f ACT II. 
Theogenes vulpanser, and Lykurgos 1295 
Is term’d an ibis, Chaerephon a bat, 
A magpie Surakosios; Meidias 
A quail they call, for he is like a quail 
By a quail-smiter wounded in the head. 
And all from bird-delight are singing ballads, 1300 


In which is any mention of a swallow, 


Of widgeon, goose, or woodpigeon, or wings, 
Or e’en a slight suspicion of a feather. 
Such tidings from that world. But one thing learn: 
Ten thousand men or more will come to you 1905 
From thence, desiring wings and crook-claw’d fashions : 
So wings you must find somewhere for the comers. 
Pe. Faith, then, our business won’t be standing still. 
You there, set off with speed, and fill the hampers, 
And every basket you can find, with wings, [Zo a slave. 1s10 
Let Manes carry to me out of doors 
Those wings: and ['ll receive the visitors. 


Enter a would-be Parricide. 


Par. A high-flying eagle I would be 


To fly o’er the surge of the barren blue sea. 





IIEI. 


TAT 


EPEISODION III. 


xopudds Piroxréet, ynvaramn€ Oecoryéver, 
IBis Avxovpyo, Xatpepavre vucrtepls, 
Lupaxocl 88 Kirra’ Medias & exet 
BptuE éxarelro’ cal ydp jKew spruye 

tr dptuyoxorou thy Kehadyny TerAnypLev. 
qoov & vio diropyiOlas savres péAn, 
Strov yerudav Av Tis ewrretrounpévn 

n wnveroy  xnv Tis 7 TepioTepa 


 mrépuyes, 7) Wrepod Te Kal opixpdy Tpoony. 


Toadra pév TaxeiOev, év 5&€ cor NEYO" 
nkovo’ éxeiev Sedpo mrciv 4} pvpcoe 

a , \ , , ‘ 
mrepav Seopevoe Kal tTpdTav yauyovvyov 
Lid a a 2 / A . 
@oTe wrepav cot rots érroixous Set mroev. 
od tapa pa Al’ npiv a’ Epyov éoravat. 


GAN’ ws TaxyioTta od pev lov Tas applxous 


Kal tovs xodlvous &travras éutlurdvn Trepov' 


60 


1295 


1300 


1305 


1310 


[Zo a slave. 


Mavis 5é depérw por Ovpate ta mrepa' 


éya 8 éxelvwy tovs mpociwvras dSéEouar. 
Enter a would-be Parricide. 


yevolway aietos vrpuréras, 
ws dy rorabelnyv virép...atpuyérou 


yAauKas ér’ oldua Aluvas. 








ACT Ii. 


Pe. Our herald’s tale seems likely to be true: 1340 
Here comes a fellow singing about eagles. 
Par. Ho, ho! there’s nothing half so sweet as flying: 
I’ve the bird-mania; yes, to fly I wish 
And dwell with you; and I desire your laws. 1345 
Pet. What laws d’ye mean? For birds have many laws. 
Par. All: chiefly that it’s held a law of honour 
In birds to strangle and to peck their fathers. 
Pei. Ay, and in fact when a young cock stands up 
And spurs his sire, we hold him very—manly. 1350 
Par. Therefore I migrate hither, and desire 
To choke my father, and possess his fortune. 
Pe. Yes, but we birds have got an ancient law 
Kept in the record office of the storks, 
That when the parent stork has reared his brood 1355 
And turn’d them out all capable of flying, 
The storklings in their turn must feed their sire. 
Par. Much good then have I got from coming here, 
If I must e’en be made to feed my father. 
Pe. Nay, nay, not so: for since you came, poor wretch, 1360 
With friendly feelings to us, I'll contrive 
To fit you, as an orphanbird, with wings. 
But take this hint, young fellow, not a bad one, 
Which I got in my boyhood: don’t go back 


EPEISODION III. 61 


WEI. Goucev ov yevdayyeajoew ayyenos. 1340 
ddwy yap bbe Tis aeTovs mpocéepyeTar. 
TIAT, aiBot 
> OX a , , 
ovx Eotiv ovdey Tov TéTecOaL yAUKUTEpOV 
opviBopava yap Kal métopat Kal Bovropas 
? a > ¢ Aa 3 A a 4 
oixety we? vudy KaTiOupn® TaY vomov. 1345 
TIE]. srolwyv vouewv; moddol yap opvidwv vepor. 
TIAT. zavrov' partora & Ore xadrov vopilere 
\ , a Ww wv , 
TOV TraTépa Tos Cpvicw ayyew Kal Saxveu. 
TIEI. «al vn A’ avdpetov ye wavy vopitoper, 
A a / A , \ 
Os ay TemAnyn TOV TaTépa VEOTTOS BY. 1350 | 
IIAT. dua raira pévrou Sedp’ avosxicbels eyo 
dyxew ériOup@ Toy watépa kal Twavt’ yew. 
TIE], agar’ gore piv rotow dprvicw vopos 
MTadas €v Tais THY TeAapyav KUpBecw" 
rd \ e \ ¢€ \ >] ¢ 
érnv 6 TaTHp 6 TeAapyos exTrEeTHTIiMOUS 1355 
WavTas Toon Tovs Terapyltons Tpépwr, ’ 
Sef Tovs veorTods TOY TaTépa Tadw TpEpev. 
TIAT. dsrédavod rdpa vn AC erOav evOadi, 
v f \ , , 
elmrep yé jrot Kal Tov tratépa Booxnréov. 
TIEI. ovdév 7. érrecdnrep yap HrAOes, @ pére, 1360 
#7 Ul 3 ef 4 3 4 
EVVOUS, TTEPWOW Go WaTTEP OpYLY oppavov. 
\ 3 ? , b 3 nu e , 
got &, @ veaviok, ov Kaxa@s viro8ncopuat, 


arn’ olatrep avtos Euaboyv bre traits H. ov yap 


ACT II. 


And beat your father: but receive this wing 

In the one hand, and this spur in the other, 1965 
And wear this crest as ’twere a cock’s: then go, 

Serve both in garrison and in the field 

For soldier’s pay: so let your father live; 

And since your tastes are warlike, Thraceward fly, 

And fight your fill there. 


Par, Ay, by Dionysus, 

I deem your counsel good, and I'll obey 

Your bidding. | 1370 
Pei. "Tis a wise resolve, by Jove. [Hawt Parricide. 


Enter an Informer. 
Inf. Hither as the track I follow, 


Certain birds appear in view, 

Dapplewing’d, without a sou; 1410 

OQ pinionstretching dappled swallow ! | 
Pe, This newly-wakened pest is not a light one: 

Here comes another fellow trilling airs. 
Inf. O pinionstretching dappled one ‘da capo.’ 1415 
Pe. Methinks upon his cloak he sings the catch; 

He seems to want no small amount of swallows, 
Inf. Who is’t supplies the visitors with wings? 
Pe. Your humble servant. What are your commands? 
Inf. Wings, wings I want: you need not ask me twice. 
Pet. Direct to Woolston do you mean to fly? 1421 
Inf. No: but an island-summoner am I, 

And an informer. 


ITAT. 


TIKI. 


STK. 


TIEI. 


aTK. 


ITE. 


2TK. 
TIEI. 
2TK. 


ITE]. 


=TK. 


EPEISODION III. 62 
Toy pev Tatépa py TUTTE TauTnvdl AaBoy 
tiv wrépvya Kal tovtTl To wAHKTpoV Oarépa, 1365 
vouicas adrextpudvos exyew tTovdt Odor, 
dpovper, oTparevou, picPopopav cavrov tpéde, 
Tov mratép éa fnv' adn ered) paytmos el, 


bd > A , 9 J 9 Aa a 
és tami @paxns arrométou Kaxet payov. 


yn) tov Atovucoy ev yé poe Soxeis réyeu, 1370 
Kal Teicopal cot. [Hait Parricide. 
voov ap éEes v7 Ala. 
Enter an Informer. 
Spubés tives old ovdéy Syovres mreporrolxidot, 1410 


Tavucinrepe toulia yYedtoor 

routl TO Kaxcdy ov davrov é£eypnyopev. 

65° av puvupilwov Sedpd tis mpocépyeras, 
TAVUCITTTEPE TOLKIAG par avis. 1415 
és Ooiuatiov To oxddtov ade pot Soxel, 

detcBar 5 Zouxev ovn orAlywv yersdovor. 

tls 6 wrepav Sedp’ éotl rods ddixvovpévous; 

66i mapectw' adr Grou Set ypr reve. 

mrepov, wrepav Set 7) 1vOn 1d Sevrepov. 1420 
peav evOd IledAnvns wétrecOat Siavoel; 

pa Av’ adda KANTHP Eipe VNTLWTLKOS 


Kal ouxopayrns 


ACT II. 


Pet. What a blessed trade! 
Inf. Ay, and a suit-promoter: so I want 
A suit of wings to fly about my circuit 
And scare the cities with my writs of summons. 1425 
Pet. With wings you'll summon then more cleverly? 
Inf. No: but, to save annoyance from the pirates, 
I'll travel back in the crane caravan, 
With many lawsuits swallowed down for ballast. 
Pei. So that’s your business, yours, a strong young man, 
To bring vexatious charges against foreigners } 1431 
Inf. What can I do? I never learn’d to dig. 
Pe. But surely there are other decent trades, 
In which a fullgrown man might get his bread 
By doing rather than perverting justice. 1435 
Inf. Correct me not, but wing me, noble Sir. 


Pet. I do, by speuking. 


Inf. Wing by speech? how so? 
Pei. All men are wing’d by speeches. 

Inf. All men? 

Pet. Yes, 


Have you not often heard, when to their friends 
In barbers’ shops the fathers thus discourse : 


‘Too bad: Dieitrephes has wing’d with talk 1440 


TIKI. 
TK. 


IIE. 


=TK. 


TIE]. 


2TK. 


TIEI. 


>TK. 
IIEI. 
>TK. 


ITE. 


2TK. 
ITEI. 


EPEISODION III. 63 


@ paxapie THS TEXVNS. 
N 9 , A 
kai mpayparodldns. elra Séouar wrepda AaBov 
KUKA@ TeptcoBely Tas Modes KaAOvMEVOS. 1425 
e , / A / 
UTO MrEepvywy Ti mMporkarel copwTeEpoy; 
pa Al’ adn WY of AnoTal TE pn AVTACI LE, 
\ A U > 93 a 9 ra , 
peta TOV yepavwv t éxeiBev avaywpo TarLy, 
av@ Eppatos wodAds KatareTTwKas Sixas. 
ne eee \ ” . wt 
toutl yap épyales av Tovpyov; eimé pot, 1430 
“a a \ , 
veavlas av ovxodartets tovs Eévous; 
/ \ , , \ 9 >? 
TL yap 1a0w; oKxamrew yap ovK étriotapas. 
GN got etepa vy AL Epya swdpova, 
ad av d.atny dvdpa ypnv rocovrovl 
éx tod Stxalov parrov 7 Sixoppadetv. 1435 
O Saupovie, un vovOéres pp’, GAAA Trépov. 
viv Tot k€ywov WTEP@ ce. 
Kal Tos av NOyots 
Ww , A 
avopa Wrepwcetas ov; 
U 4 
jWavtTes Tot Novos 
avanrepovvrai. 
TAaVTeEs; 
9 9 / 
OUK aknKoas, 
cd , e , e oF 
OTav AEyWOLY Ol TrATEPES EXATTOTE 
tots puAréraus éy totat xoupelos Tad; 


Sewas yé pov To petpaxiov Autpédns 


ACT II. 


That lad of mine to drive his curricle.’ 
Another says, his boy is all a-wing 
For tragedy, and fluttered in his mind. 
Inf. So then by speeches they are wing’d? 
Pet. They are. 
By speeches intellect is elevated 
And the man raised aloft. And so would I 
Wing you with honest words, and turn you to 
A lawful trade. 


Inf. But I will not be turned. 
Pe. What will you do then? 
Inf. Not disgrace my kindred: 


Informing’s my ancestral occupation. 
So fit me with some light and rapid wings, 
Falcon’s or hawk’s, that I may serve my writs 
On foreigners, then plead against them here, 
Then fly back there again. 
Pet. I catch your meaning. 
Tis this: that, ere the foreigner arrives, 
He may be cast in damages. 
Inf. Exactly. 
Pe. And while he’s sailing hither, off you fly 
To foreign parts and seize his goods. 
Inf. You’ve hit it. 





STK. 
TEI. 


=TK. 
TIEI, 
2TK. 


ITE. 


=TK, 
IIEI. 


aK. 


EPEISODION III, . 64 


Aéyor averrrépwxey WoO” immnrateiv. 
0 O€ Tus Toy avTod dyaw emi rTpaywdia 
3 a A A 4 
avetepw@obar Kat metrotiacbas tas ppévas. 1445 
Aoyoust Tapa Kal mrepovytat; 
ao) b] , 
pnp eye. 
e Q N U e fe! S 
UTr0 yap Aoywy GO vods Te peTewpileras 
érralperal @ avOpwiros. ovtw Kal a éyo 
avamrepwoas BovNopat ypnotois Néyous 
Tpéat mpos épyov voutmov. 1450 
GAN ov BovrAopat. 
, QA , 
ti Sai qrounces; 
TO yévos OU KaTALTXUYO. 
manrm@os 6 Blos cuxodavteiy earl por. 
GAd mmrépov pe taxéoe Kal Kovgois trepois 
iépaxos 4 Kepyvndes, ws av tods Févous 
Kanecadpevos Kat éyKexXnKas évOadt 1455 
9 k 4 , / ? a 
KAT QU TETMUAL TAL EKELCE. 
pavOava. 
wot réyers* Srras av adrAnty Sienv 
évOade mpiv hrew 6 Eévos. 
, , 
wavu pavOavers. 
kde? 6 pev wre Sedpo, od 8 éxeio’ ad réres 
apTacopevos Ta yYpnuaT avTod. 1460 
WAavT EXEL. 


9 


ACT ITI. 


A top’s the very thing to be. 
Pei. A top! 
I comprehend ; and, by the powers, I’ve got 
These capital wings of Korkyrean make. 
Inf. Woe’s me! you've got a whip. 
Pei. No, no; two wings, 
With which I mean this day to set you spinning. [Whips him. 
Inf. Alas, alas! 1468 
Pet. Come,: wing your way from hence 
And trickle off, abominable hangdog: | 
Your justicetwisting tricks shall cost you dear. [ Bavit Informer. 
Now let us gather up the wings and go, 
[Hot Peithetairos with slaves. 
Cho. Many wondrous things and new Strophe. 1470 
Come before my gliding view: 
Many very startling sights 
We have noticed wn our flights. 
From the common road apart, 
At some distance beyond Hart, 


Stands a tree beheld by us, 

And its name Kleonumos : ar 
Fearful ’tis and tall to see, 

Yet a good-for-nothing tree. 

In the springtime when tt grows, 

Many a load of figs it shews, 











TEI. 


2TK. 


ITEI. 


2TK. 


IIEI. 


XO. 


STASIMON. 65 


BépBexos ovdéy Stadépery Sei. 
pavlavw 
BépBixa: nab pry gore poe vy tov Aca 
KaAMOoTa KopKupaia TolavTl repa. 
olwot TaAas, pactry Exes. 
| TTEPW pLev Ovy, 
olol ce moinow thpepov BepBixcav. [Whips him. 1463 
olwoe TaXas. 
ov mrepuyteis évrevOer/; 

ove amonBakes, @ KaKICT atroNOUpEVoS; 
mixpay tay oer otpevodixorravoupyiav. 

; [ Hatt Informer. 
drrimpev nueis Ev\NaBovtes ta mrepd. 

[wit Peithetairos with slaves. 

mova 57 nat Kava cal Bav- 1470 
pact érerropecOa nat 
Seva mrpdypar eldopev. 
gore yap Sévdpov mreduros 
éxtomrov Tt Kapolas a- 
maoréepo KrXeavupos, | 1475 
Xpnoiwov perv ovdév, ad- 
Aws Se devrAdv wal péya. 
TovTo Tov pev mpos aet 
Bracravee xat cuxodarrel, 





ACT II. 


But im winter on the fielda 1460 
Its branches shed not leaves but shields. 
There's a region far away, Antistrophe. 


Where our pinions seldom stray, 

Unto Nightland’s borders near, 

In Ni olightland’s desert drear. 

There the children: of mankind 1485 
Often have with heroes din’d, 

And with heroes can abide, 

Only not at eventide : 

At that season ‘twould not be 

Safe to keep their company. 

If at ighe spiel wight : 1490 
Doth “pin Orestes light, 

Hero bold, he’s stript by him, 

And smitten in each noble limb. 


Enter PROMETHEUS disguised, and under a sunshade. 


Pro. Me miserable! mind Zeus see me not! 
Is Peithetairos in ? 1405 
Re-enter PEITHETAIROS. 
Pei. Hilloa! who’s here? 


What wraps are these? 
Pro. 


D’ye spy some god behind me? 








Enter PRoMETHEUS disguised, and under a sunshade. 


IIPO. otpot raras, 6 Leds Srrws py p overas, 


ITEI. 


TTPO. 


EPEISODION IV. 


tov Se yeypavos mad Tas 
aomriSas. pudXoppoel. 
4 >) 9 a 9 ed 
gore S av ywpa mpos avT@ 
T® okOT® Troppw Tis ev 
TH AVXVOY épnula, 
&v0a tois Hpwow avOpw- 
aot Evvaptotaot Kat Evy- 

\ A e 4 . 
elas WANVY TNS EOTrEpas. 

a b] 9 4,9 
tnvixadra S ovKér Hy 
adoganres Evytuyydvey. 

? 4 > a 

ei yap évtiyor Tis pw 

trav Bpordév vixrwp ’Opéorn, 
yuuvos hv wAnyels un’ avtod 


mavTa Tamoetia. 


qwov IleOétratpos éot’; 


Re-enter PEITHETAIROS, 


” 
€a Toutl Ti HV; 


tls ovyxaduppes; 


A“ a e a 
Tov Oeav opas twa 


? ce) 4 9 Le) 
é“ov KatoTi évrav0a; 


66 


1480 


1485 


1490 


1495 


ACT II. 


Pe. Not I, upon my honour! Who are you? 
Pro, Inform me then what time o’ day it is. 
Pe. What time o’ day? The early afternoon. 
But who are you? 1500 
Pro. Towards four o'clock, or later? 
Pei. Your folly sickens ‘me. 
Pro. -What’s Zeus about! 
Clearing the clouds off, or collecting them # 
Pe. A mischief to you. 


Pro. Well then, I'll unveil. [Throws off his disguise. 
Pei. Prometheus, my dear friend! 

Pro. Stop, stop, don’t shout. 

Pea. Why not? 1505 
Pro. Be quiet; don’t call out my name, 


I’m lost for ever if Zeus view me here. 
But, while I’m telling you the news from heaven, 
Just take this sunshade, will you? hold it up 
Above my head, that so the gods mayn’t see me, 
Pet. Bravissimo! a good device indeed, 1510 
Of true Promethean fancy! Come, be quick, 
Step under, and then speak without alarm. 
Pro. Now listen with attention. 


TIED. 


ITPO. 


TIE]. 


TIPO. 


IIE]. 


ITPO. 


IIEI. 


IIPO. 


TIEL. 


IIPO. 


ITE. 


TIPO. 


TIEI. 


TIPO. 


EPEISODION IV. 67 
pa AC éyod pév oi. 
ris © el av; 
Wnvix eotly apa THs Hpépas; 
Omnvixa; opixpov Te peta peonuBplav. 
ddrd ad ris el; | 1500 
Bovarures 4 trepactépw; 
olw ws BdedAUTTOpAl oe. 
ti yap 6 Zevds rote; 
atravOpiates Tas vepéras 7 Evyvéder; 
oimwle peyanr. 
ovTw wey exKxarvr oma. 
[Throws off his disguise. 
© pire Ipopnbed. | 
jTave, wave, wn Roa. 
ri yap ort; 1505 
olya, 6 KadEeL pov Tovvopa’ _ 
amo yap mw orels, eb pw évOad o Leds Syperau. 
Grr’ iva dpacw cov Tavta Tavw Tpayyata, 
tovti NaBwv pov 76 oKLadeloy UIrépexe 
dvwOev, os av un mw opaaw ot Geoi. 
iod iov: ate 
ev yy émevonaas avto xal mpounOuKas. 
v7rdbube trayd 8) ndta Oappicas Reve. 


4 , 
dove 87 vuv, 


ACT II. 
Pei. Speak: I listen. 
Pro, Well! Zeus ise ruined. 
Pei. Can you date his ruin? 
Pro. From your first atmospheric settlement. 
No man from that time offers anything 
To gods; no savour comes to us on high 
From legs of mutton: mulcted of our victims, 
We fast as in the Thesmophorian days: 
And wild with hunger the barbarian gods, 
All screeching like Illyrians, fiercely say 
Theyll march their armies from above on Zeus, 
Unless he'll open all the ports, that tripe 
And sausages may enter duty-free. 
Pe. How? are there other and barbarian gods 
Above yourselves ? 
Pro. What are they but barbarians, 
Whence Exekestides obtains his siregod? 
Pei, And these barbarian gods, what is their name? 
Pro. Their name? Triballi. 
Pes. Oh, I understand : 
That means to say, they are a ‘tribe allied,’ 
Pro, Just so. But let me state one certain fact: 


1515 


1520 


1525 











TIEL. 
ITPO. 
ITE. 
IIPO. 


IIEL. 


_ITPO. 


IIEL 


ITPO. 
TEL. 


EPEISODION IV. 


s GKovVOVTOS Nerve. 

aronwrev 6 Zevs. 
arnvik. aTT amwe@XETo; 

é& odtrep vpuels @xicate Tov dépa. 
Over yap ovdels ovdeyv avOparrwy rt 
Geoiow, ovde Kvica pnplwv aro 
avnrOev os nds am éxelvov tod ypovov, 
GX worepel Oecpodopias vnorevouev 
aveu Ounrav' of dé BapBapot Geol 
mewovres Bamep “IAXuvpiol Kexpuyores 
éristpatevoew pac dvolev r@ Aci, 
eb pon trapéEes Taputrope avemypéva, 
ly’ elodyorto omdayyva KaTaTeTpnpéva. 
eiaiv yap trepot BapBapot Oeol tives 
avabey vpav; 

ov yap eiot BapPBapot, 
ddev 6 twatp@os éorw "EEnkeotldy; 


dvoua Sé rovTois Tois Beots Tots BapBapots 


th éori; 
& Te €otw; TptBardrdoil. 
pavOava. 


9 v6 > 9 > ?/ 
évrevbevy dpa rovmitpiBelns éyévero; 


TIPO. pariora wravrov. ay 8 cor Neyo cadés’ 


68 


1518 


1520 


1525 


1530 


ACT II. 


From Zeus and those Triballians up above 

Envoys are coming here to treat for peace: 

But don’t conclude on any terms but these: | 

That Zeus restore the sceptre to the Birds, ass 

And give you Royalty to be your bride. | 
Per. Who is this Royalty? 

Pro. A lovely maid, 

Who has the charge of Zeus’s lightning-closet 

And all his‘other stores, his maxims sage, 

His wholesome laws, his temperance, his dockyards, 1 

His slang, his paymaster, his sixpences, 

Pei. Why, then she keeps his all, 
Pro. She really does: 

And when you've got her from him, you’ve got all. 

"Twas for that reason that I came to tell you: 

I’ve always been a zealous friend to men. 1545 
Pe. True; youre the only god through whom we grill. 
Pro. And all the gods, you're well: aware, I hate. 

Pei. Yes, this cleaves to you ever, hate of gods. 
Pro. A genuine Timon! But I must run back ; 

So hand me here the sunshade, that, if Zeus : 1560 

From upper realms behold me, I may seem | 

Zo follow in due form the basket-bearer. 
Pe. There! take this campstool also for your purpose. 
| [Hatt Prometheus. 


END OF ACT II. 











IIEL. 
IIPO. 


IIEI. 


IIPO. 


TEI. 
IPO. 
TIEI. 
1IPO. 


TIKI. 


EPEISODION IV. 69 


HEovot mpécBers Sedpo rept Svadrrayav 
mapa tov Avs Kat Tov TpiBadr(.av TOY avo’ 
vuels Sé wn orrévders, cay pn rrapadide 
To aoxnTrpov 6 Levs toiow dpvicw warw, 1535 
kal rnv Bacinevay oot yuvaix’ éyew 8160. 
tis éorw 1 Bacidrea; 
Kandlorn Kopn, 
5d 4 \ A re) A 
nwep Tapteves Try Kepavvov tod Axéds 
kal Ta\N atrataravta, thy evBovrlar, 
A p \ , \ , 
THY evvonlay, THY cwhpoc’YynY, TA vVewpla, —-1540 
Thy Novdoplay, Tov KwAaypéTHnY, TA TpLwBora. 
imavra Tap avT@ Tapcever; 
, 9 9 , 
on eyo. 
qv y qv od wap éxeivov waparaBys, wavr’ éyecs. 
rovtwv eveca Sedp’ nArAOov, iva dpacatml oor. 
9 9 9 v A of vw 9 s 
ael trot avOpwros yap evdvous ei eyo. 1545 
povov Gedy yap Sia o° arravOpaxivoperv. 
pucad & amavras tovs Oeovs, ws olcba av. 
vn rov AL deb Si7a Oeomions edus. 
Tluwv xafapds. arr ws ay atroTpéxyw Tradw, 
dépe Td oxtadeov, va pe wav 6 Zevds' iby 1550 
dvwobev, axorovbeiy Soxd xavnpopy. 


cat tov Sldpov ye Suppodoper tovdl rAaBav. 
[Hait Prometheus. 





ACT IIL 


Scese. Part of the ramparts of Cloudcuckooborough; an 
alcove in the scene as a kaichen where PErrHerareos 1s 
engaged with slaves cooking. Enter Posxipox, HERAKLEs 
and TRIBALLOS. 


1565 
is the fortress of Cloudcackooborough 


Within our view, to which we're sent as 
envoys. 
What’s that you're doing there? pulling your cloak 
To the left side in that ungainly style? 
Put round and draw it, can’t you? to the right. 
Ah, clumsy being! you're a born Laispodias. 
[To the Triballian god. 

What will you bring us to, Democracy, 1570 
If the gods choose a deputy like this? 
Be still. You plague! Of all the gods I’ve seen 
You are the one most barbarous by far. [To the Triballian again. 
Well, Herakles, what’s to be done? 

Ler, You’ve heard, 


Pes. 





ACT III. 


Scengz. Part of the ramparts of Cloudcuckooborough; an 
alcove in the scene as a kitchen where ParrHerarros is 


engaged with slaves cooking. Enter Posrmwon, HERAKLEs 
and 'TRIBALLOS, 


O pév womucpa THs NedeXoxoxkuylas 1565 





Bae Waal Opav Todi wapeotiv, of mpcoBevouev. 
AE bros ri Spas; é aptorép ovTws aprréyet; 
ov petaBaret Ooiparuov od émi Sekia; 
tl, @ Kxaxddapov; Aatorrodias ef tiv dvow; 
: [Zo the Triballian god. 
© Snuoxpatrla, mot mpoBiBas nuds rote, 1570 
€b TovTOVL KEeyElpoTovnKac ot Bent; 
e£ers atpéuas; olpwle’ modvd yap 69 o° éyo 
édpaxa travtwy BapBapwratov Bear. 
[To the Triballiian again. 
aye 57) Ti Spapev, “Hpaxrers ; : 
HP. aKnKOaS 


ACT IIL 


1 want to strangle him outright, the man, 1575 
Whoe’er he is, that’s walling out the gods 
Pos. Nay, Sir, but our instructions are to treat 
For peace. 
Her. So much the more I vote for strangling. 
Pei. Hand the cheese-scraper, somebody: fetch silphium ; 
Bring cheese, and heat the coals within the grate. 1580 
| [ Aside to slaves. 
Pos. We bid the gentleman good day, we gods, 


Three in commission. 


Pei. Now then, scrape the silphium. [As before. 
Her. What meat is this you're dressing? [To Petthetairos. 
Pes. Certain birds 


Against the democratic birds arose, 

And suffered condemnation for high treason. 1565 
Her. So then, you first scrape silphium on them, do you? 
Pet. Ah, Herakles, good morning. What’s your pleasure ? 

[ Recognizing Herakles. 
Pos. We're come as envoys from the gods to treat 
About a termination of the war. 
Pei. There’s not a drop of oil within the cruse, 
Her, And yet your volaille wants a nice rich sauce. 1590 
Pos. We for our part gain nothing by the war, 
And you, by being friendly with the gods, 


EPEISODION V. 71 


duod y Stt tov dvOpwrrov dyyew BovrNopat, 1875 


Saris tor a6’ 6 Tors Oeods amoterylaas. 


TIOX. dar’, dyal’, npyuecOa sept Siadrayav 


HP. 


{IEI. 


TIO2. 


TIKI. 
HP. 


1102. 


mpéo Bets. a 
Sumdacios padrov ayyew pot Soxel. 
Tv tupoxvnotiy tis Sota’ pépe aldduiov’ 
Tupoy hepéT@ Tis’ TupToAe. Tors avOpaxas. 1880 
| [ Aside to slaves. 
\ Ww ; e A , 
. TOV avdpa yaipeww ot Oeot KerAevopev 
Tpeis ores Nels. 
GN’ érixva tO olrAdiov. [As before. 
ta 5é xpéa Tov tadT éotiv; [Zo Petthetairos. 
Bpvibés Tives 
9 , A a 9 
éraviotapevot Tos Snmotixotaw opvéots 
EdoEay adsxeiv. 1585 
elra ota cidduov 
ENLKVTS TPOTEPOY AUTOLOLW ; 
w xaip, ‘Hpaxnrets. 
tl got; [Recognizing Herakles. 
mpeaBevovres Hels MKopev 
mapa tov Oedy mept Tod moXguou KaTadXayis. 
EXavov oun eveotiv ev TH ANKVOg. 
\ , 9 9 ry »® , 
kal pny ta y opvidera ALrrap’ elvat mpéret. 1590 
e@ a A b ] , 
nets Te yap TroAEMouVTES OU KEpdaivoper, — 


Uuels Tt av nuiv rots cots ovres pirot 


ACT III, 


Would have rain-water in your tanks at once, 

And live without cessation halcyon days. 

On all these points we bring full powers to treat. 1505 
Pei. Well; we were not the first in former time 

To war with you; and, now, if so resolved, 

And if at last you’re willing to do justice, 

We'll come to terms. Our just demand is this, 

That Zeus restore the sceptre to us birds. 1600 

And if we settle things on this condition, 

I shall invite the embassy to luncheon. 
Her. I’m quite content with this, and give my vote— 


~ 


Pos. For what, you madman? Youre a silly glutton: 
Youll rob your father of his royal sway? 1605 
Pei. So, so? and won't you gods be stronger far — 
If birds command below? For mortals now 
Conceal’d beneath the clouds hang down their heads, 
And call on you to witness perjuries. 
But, if you have the birds for your allies, 1610 
When by the raven and by Zeus a man 
Shall swear, and break his plight, the raven then, 
Approaching unperceiv’d, shall pounce on him, 
And strike his eye out with a single blow. 
Pos. Ay, by Poseidon, this at least’s well said. 
Her. I think so. 1615 
Pos. What do you say? [To the Triballian. 


IIE]. 


HP. 
TIO2. 


TIKI. 


10%. 
HP. 
IIOX. 


EPEISODION V. 72 


SuBpiov bdwp ay eiyer év rots téApacw, 

anxvovidas vt av fyeO nuépas del. 

TOUTWY Trepl WaVTwWVY AUTOKPATOpES THKopeV. 1598 

GAN ove mpdtepoy trae hyets ApEapev 

monéuou mpos vpas, viv T éOédomev, et Soxel, 

édv td Slxavov adda viv eOérnTe Spar, 

o7rovoas wovtobas. ta 82 Sixav’ éoriy Tradl, 

TO OKHTTpoy Huiy Tolow Spyicw wadw 1600 

rov AL amododvat: xadv StadXarrépeba 

émt toicde, tods mpéaBes em’ Apiorov Kano. 

éuol pev adrdypn tadra Kal Yndilopar— 

tl, & Kkaxodayov; nrALOLos Kal yaorpus el. 

dmoorepeis, Tov Tatépa TAS Tupavvlbos ; 1608 

annbes; ov yap petfov vets ot Geol 

ioyvoer’, jv Spvibes ApEwow Karo ; 

vov pév y' vd rails vedédavow éyxexpuppévor 

Kinpavres émuopxovow vas ot Bportol: 

dy dé rods dpvis éynre cuppayous, 1610 

Stay ouviyn Tus Tov Képaxa Kal rov Ala, 

5 xdpak rrapedOav rovmiopxodvros NOPE 

mpoomrdpevos éxxdryrer Tov opbarpov Oevady. 

yn tov loved tadra yé ToL Kad@s Aérvess. 

Kapot Soxel. 1615 
ti §at od dns; [Zo the Triballian. 

10 


ACT III. 


T rs. Nabaisatreu. 


Pes. You see, he gives assent. Hear furthermore 


How great a service we've in store for you. 
If any man shall vow to any god 
A sacrifice, and then with artful quibbles 
Excuse himself and say, ‘The gods can wait,’ 
Declining from mere stinginess to pay, 
This also we'll exact. 

Pos, . How so? let's see. 

Pei. When the man’s counting out a petty sum, 
Or sitting in his bath, a kite shall swoop 
Unnotic’d, clutch the coins, and carry up 
The value of two sheep unto the god. 

Her. I vote for giving back the sceptre to them. 


Pos. Ask the Triballian next. 


Her. Do you, Triballian, 
Consent to a sound whipping? 

Tri. Stikaliki 
Mitaki. 


Her. My proposal’s good, he says. 
Pos. If you both vote so, then I vote with you. 


1620 


1635 


1680 


Her. Sir, we concede this point about the sceptre. [70 Peisth. 


Pei. Ay, but there’s one thing more which I forgot. 


Hera indeed I yield to Zeus, but he 
Must give the Princess Royalty to me 











TPI. 
ITED. 


IIOz. 


TEI. 


HP. 


10x. 


HP. 
TPI. 


HP, 


TIOX. 


HP. 
ITEI. 


EPEISODION V. 


vaBatcatped. 
Opas; ématvel yovros. Erepoyv vuv ére 
aGxovoal dcov vas ayabov trownooper. 
édy tis dvOpdarav iepeiéy Tw Oedv 
evEdpevos eita Siacodpiftnras Néyor, 
Heverot Geol, kai parrodidp picntia, 
avarrpatopey nat ravra. 
gép idm Te TpdT®g ; 
Stay StapiOpadv apyupldiov tiyy 
&vOpwiros obtos, 7) KabjTat Novpevos, 
KatamTopevos ixtivos aprracas Napa 
mpoBatow Svoiv tynny avoloe Te eg. 
TO oKxiTTpoyv amrodobvar Trad Wypivopas 
TOUTOLS eyO. 
xal tov TptBadrAdv vuv épod. 
6 TpiBardrdos, oipdfew Soxet cor; 
_ wauvaKa 
Baxraptxpovca. 
gnot pw ev réyew aadvu. 


et tor Soxet of@y Taira, xapol cuvdoxe. 


73 


1620 


1625 


1630 


avtos, Soxet Spay radta tod oxnmrpov tépt. [To Peisth. 


wal vn A’ Erepdy xy éorly od ‘pyncOnv eyo. 
Thy pev yap “Hpav rrapadidiops tre Aci, 
thy 6¢ Bacinevay thy Kopny yuvaik’ émot 


10—2 


ACT III. 

In lawful wedlock. 1635 
Pos. Peace is not your object: 

Let us go home again. 

Pei. Little I care, 

Cook, mind you make the sauce sweet. 

Her. My good man 

Poseidon, whither are you rushing off? 

Are we to. go to war about one woman? 

' Pos. What must we do then? . 160 
Her. Come to terms of course. 
Pos. Poor wretch, you know not that you’re being duped. - 

You harm yourself moreover. If Zeus die, 

After the kingdom has been given to these, 

You'll be a pauper: all the money’s yours — 

That Zeus will leave behind him at his death. - 1645 

Pe. O dear, O dear! how sadly he deceives you! 

Come here aside, and have a word with me. 

Your uncle sets you wrong, unhappy Sir; 

Not one hair’s breadth of all your father’s goods 

Is yours by law. You're illegitimate. "1660 
Her. JI illegitimate? What can you mean? 

Pe. You are, by Zeus! a foreign woman’s child: 

Or how d’ye think Athene could be heiress, 

A daughter, had she lawful brothers living? 





ITO. 


TEI. 


HP. 


TIO%,. 


HP. 


TO. 


ITED 


HP. 
TIEI. 


EPEISODION V. | 74 


éxdotéov early, 1635 
ov SvadrAayov épas. 

atriapev olxad avis. 

GAlryov pou pédet. 
pedryetpe, TO KaTaYVopa ypn TroLely ryAUKU. © 
3 Saysve dvOpdrrav Idce8or, rot pépe; 
nets yuvatKos Tepl pas trokeunoopen ; 
tt Sal rower ; | 1640 
6 Tt; StadrAaTtTopeda. 
ti 8, pup’; ov« olc® eEarrarwpevos madar; 
Bramrres 5€ tor od cautrov. jv yap arobavy 
6 Zevs, tapadods Trovtows Thy Tupavyida 
mévns res ov. cod ydp Amavta ylyveras 
Ta xpypal, 60° dv 6 Leds aroOvncxwy KxataXity. 
olor Taras olov ce tmeptoodpilerar. 1646 
Sedp’ ws Su atroywpnoor, va ti cor dpaca. 
StaBdrretal o° oO Oetos, & rovnpée ov. 


A , 2Q9 > A 4 
TaY yap Tatrp@wv ovd dxaph péterrl cot 


_ Kata Tovs vowous’ vobos yap el Kov yunowos. 1650 


éyd vobos; th reyes ; 

ov péevtos vy Ala 
av y é« Edvns yuvaikds. 7 mas dv arorte 
émrlxdnpov elvat thy "AOnvaiay Soxeis, 


ovoay Ouyarép’, dvTwv adeAdav yunalwv ; 


ACT IIL 


Her. Well, but suppose my sire give me the money 166 
After his death, by special codicil, 
As to @ spurious son. 
Pet, The law forbids him. 
Why, this Poseidon, who’s now cramming you, 
Will be the first to claim your father’s money, 
Saying that he himself is lawful brother. 
Tl now recite to you the law of Solon: 1660 
‘ A bastard shall have no inheritance while lawful children are 
alive, and, if there are no lawful children, then the next of kin 
shall share the property between them.’ 1668 
Her. 8o then I’ve no claim to my father’s money? 
Pei. No, none, by Zeus, Just tell me, did your father 
At any time present you to his wardsmen? 
Her, Me? never: I’d been wondering at it long. 1670 
Pet. Why stare up at the sky with looks like cudgels? 
Stand on our side, and I'll create you king, 
Tl give you bird’s milk to your heart’s content. 
Her. Again what you propose, I think, is just 


About the maiden, and I yield her to you. 1678 
Pei. And what say you} [Zo Poseidon, 
Pos, I vote the other way. 


Pei. All rests with the Triballian. What say you? 
[Zo the Triballian. 





HP. 


TIEI. 


HP. 


TIED. 


HP. 


ITEI. 


HP. 


ITEI. 


TO. 


TEI. 


EPEISODION V. _ 75 


tl 3 iv 6 warnp epol 886 ta ypnpara 1658 
vole? arrobvncKwp ; 
6 vdpos avTov ovK é4. 
ovtos 6 Tlocedav mpatos, ds éralpe: ce vor, 
av0éEerai cov Téy TaTp@wv ypnedtov 
ddoxwy aderpds avrds elvau yvnows. 
épd 88 81 wat rov Yorwves cos vopov. 1660 
vb0q@ 5é ur) elvat dyyvoreiay traldwy dvtwy yvnolov. 
édy Sé maides py) Wot yvnovot, Tots éyyurdro yévous 
peTeivas TOY Ypnudtov. 1666 
éuol § dp’ ovdév trav tratrpgev ypnuarav 
péTEoTUD 5 
ov pévrot pad Ala. ré£ov Sé por, 
70n o° G Twatnp cianyay €s Tovs Ppadtepas ; 
ov dnt’ éué ye. nal Shr’ Bavpalov manrar. 1670 
tl Snr dvw Kéynvas aixlay Brérrov ; 
GN jv peF nav ys, KaTacTnoas o éyo 
Tupavvov cpvidwyv tapé—w cou yanra. 
Sixat Syovye nat mdr Soxeis ASyeev 
Tept THS Kops, Kaywye wapadidopul cos. 1675 
tl Sal od dys; | [Zo Poseidon. 
ravavrla ndilopar. 
ev T@ TpiBarrA@ wav To mpaypa. Th od éyeus; 
[To the Triballian. 


wat IL 


ia, Joortsth acti aggre tvuicemt 


Abin jabtion 


for te et oe tua 
ze Tr. ww) .& eon IO Par sy om 13h . 


24. Wee. how a «ey i tetas ser >. “he aemaloom 

Ze Weti me wer tomes wd mrsge (tween Va 
Be wmee Tae oth weret. 71] ay 10 nore 

Jew ore’ wee. a ch OEE Ts Onion a. 
Jaa. cme. vith mop ‘teased. worset. “here -nae- 
“he >4nesms Revei:y wel wi ler “Tonssem 

JA. ln wasenatie ime. -hea ‘or -he weamny 


“hear. sea verp. sangntpred 


Pn Vill wn et Be sur 
Py Ton nase che: neat uch costings wit -om we 


Sone wh with im 
to”, C snonld 4ave Jean 1 sover: 
Poa. Let: tte te et ne mr 2 -veeutinge--nemtle 
tceent Dukeanme mui be ‘toes jarte 
A,terp am ntercad nier Tort Wessemgrr 
Tine Ml pe xt avery countless mad Jems. 


‘tying saee sf tumie suoremety sues. 





TPI. 


HP. 


TIO. 


TITEL 


IO. 


HP. 


TIEI, 


HP, 


IOs. 


HP. 
ITEI. 


.EXODOS. 


Kadavu. kbpavva kal peyada Baoiwad 

dpyero mrapadlSeopss. | 
Tapadovva, Néeyel. 

pa tov Al ovx obrés ye tapadodvas réyet, 

et pn BaBpales y Borep at yerddves. 

ovKobyv Trapadodvar tals yertddow RéyeL. 

odo viv SvarrXarrecGe nal EvpBaivere: 

éyo 5’, ered op@y Soxel, cvyncopas. 

npiv & reyes od wavta cuyywpelv Soxel. 

GNX 104 peO aydv avros és Tov ovpavor, 


iva thy Baclrecav nal ta rravr éxet XaBys. 


és xaipov dpa xatexdrncay ovrou 
és Tovs ydpous. 
Bovrcobe Sar’ eyo Téws 

9 A \ Ui Lg e a“ +) 
Orta Ta Kpéa TavTl pevov; vpeis 8 ire. 
omTTas TA Kpéa; TWodAHY ye TevOciay Réyeus. 
ovx ef peF nuov; 

ev ye péevrav SietiOny. 


GANA yauinny yravida Sétw Tis Sevpo por. 


76 


1680 


1685, 


1690 


[Haewunt Peithetairos and the three gods. 


After an interval enter Third Messenger. 


AI. DT @& wavr’ ayaba wpattovtes, @ pelo Adyov, 


@ Tplopaxdpiov mrnvov opviOwy yévos, 


ACT III, 

Trt. Dipritti girli biggi royalbaki 
Abirdi yieldimi. 

Her. He says he yields. 

Pos. No, no! he does not really say he yields, 1680 
But only twitters as the swallows do. 

Pei. Why, then he says he yields her to the swallows. 

Pos. Well, draw your clauses, and arrange between you: 
For, since you’re both agreed, [ll say no more. 

Her. Our vote is, to admit all your conditions. 1685 
But come with us to heaven yourself: there take | 
The Princess Royalty and all her trouaseau. 

Pei. In seasonable time then for the wedding 
These birds were slaughtered. 

Her. Will you ‘let me stay 
Meantime and roast this meat, while you depart? 1000 

Pos. You roast the meat? much tasting’s what you want. 
Come on with us. 

Her. I should have been in clover. 

Fe. Let some one get me out a wedding-mantle. 

[Haewnt Peithetairos and the three gods. 
After am interval enter Third Messenger. 
Third M. O ye of every countless good possest, 
O flying race of birds, supremely blest, 


TPI. 


HP, 


TIO. 


ITEL 


TIO. 


HP. 


IIEI, 


HP, 


TIO. 


HP. 
ITEI. 


-EXODOS. 


KaNaYt kopauva Kal peyara asda 
Spero mrapadlSape. 

mapabdodvar NéyeL. 
pa tov Al? ovy obrés ye twapadodvar réyet, 
et un BaBpaler y Borrep at yerdéves. 
ovxovv Trapadobvar Tais yedsddow AéyeL. 
odo viv SiadratrrecGe nal Evy Baivere’ 
dyad 0°, éredn op@v Soxel, cvyjcopar. 
npiy & réyes od wavta ouvyxwpely Soxe’. 
ann Oe pe? judy avtos és tov ovpavon, 


va tHv Baclreay nal ta awdvt éxet NaBys. 


és xaipov dpa xatexdrnoay ovtou 
és Tovs ydpous. 

Bovreobe Sar’ eyo téws 
onTd Ta Kpéa TavT) pévov; vpeis 5 ire. 
omrTas Ta Kpéa; TodAnv ye TevOciay NéyeLs. 
ovK el pe? nyov; | 

| ev ye pevrav SreriOnv. 
GANG yapiKny yravida Sérw tis Seipo por. 


76 


1680 


1685 


1690 


[Haeunt Peithetairos and the three gods. 


After am imierval enter Third Messenger. 


AT. T & wavr’ ayaa mpattovtes, & pelfo Aéyou, 


U \ > / , 
@® Tpiopaxaploy mrnvov cpviwv yévos, 


ACT ITIL 


Receive the monarch in his prosperous home. 

He comes, he comes: like him in goldbright dome 

Ne’er dawn’d to view the full-orb’d glittering star: 1710 
No beamy splendour of the sun from far 
Shone forth so glorious as the queenly bride 

Of untold beauty moving by his side. 

Flashing the wingéd levin-bolt of Jove 

He comes, while soars to vaulted skies above 1715 
A scent unutterable, beauteous sight, 

And incense-breezes coil a smoky light. 

Himself appears: the goddess Muse to-day 

Behoves from holy lips to pour the auspicious lay. 


PErrerairos and BasiLE1a descend in a flying car, while the 
Chorus sigs. 


Cho. Room for the company! cheertly, merrily — 170 
Flutter around hum, 
Washing him joy of the joy that has crown’d wm / 
O bliss! O bliss! 
What bloom of youth, what beauty thes ! 
To the city of thy sway 
Happy is thy marriage day. 1735 
Great fortune for the Birds ts stor’d, 
Yea, great, through this victorious lord. 
So with Hymen’s songs of glee 
And bridal carols welcome ye 
Him and Mis partner Royalty. 1780 


EXODOS. 77 


SéyerGe Tov TUpavvov orABlos Soposs. 

mpocépyetat yap olos ovdé trapdans 

aoTnp ideiy éXaprpe ypucavye? Séum* 1710 
ovd Alou rnravyés axtivav cédas 

Towovroy é£éXaprpev, olov Epyerat 

Eywr yuvaicds KaAXOS Ov hardy réyerDy, 

TAaANWY KEepavvoy, Trepoddpov Axds Bédos" 

6op7 & avovdépuactos és Babos nvKrou 1715 
xeopel, carov Capa’ Ovpiaparov & 

avpat Starpaipovot wrexravny Katrvod. 

68) Sé Kavrés éotw. adda xp7n Oeds 


Movons avoiyew tepdv etdnpov ordopua. 


PrITHETAIROS and BasILElA descend ma flying car, while the 


XO. 


Chorus sings. 
dvarye, Sleye, mdpaye, TWapeye. : 1720 
wepiT@érer Oe 
paxapa paxape adv UY. 
@ ped hed THS wpas, TOD KAdXoUS. 
@ paxapioroy od ydpuov Td Tones yhpas. 1735 
peydras peyadat Katéyouot Tvyat 
yevos cpvlOwv 
dud tévde Tov dvdp’. GAN vpyevatous 
kal vupdidlorot Séver® dais 


‘avrov kat thy Baclreap, 1730 


ACT Hil. 


Sone I. 
When the goddess Fates allied Strophe. 
To Hera, his Olympian bride, 
Hum, the high and heavenly One, 
Him who held the exalted throne, 


They sang the song of Hymen Hymenaeus. 1736 
Golden-wing’d, the bloomy Love Antistrophe. 
His chariot lightly reining drove, 

With his present power to bless ; 1740 


Jove's and Hera’s happiness, 
And sang the song of Hymen Hymenaeus. 
Pe. Your lays they are sprightful, your music delightful, 
Your language is striking, and quite to my liking. 
Cho. Stay yet a little while and sing 
The earth-descending crashes, 1745 
The fiery-gleaming flashes, 
The terrible white bolt of Zeus the king. 
Sone IT. 


O the mighty golden blaze of lightning / 
O the flamy spear of Zeus immortal / 
O the hoarsely echoed peals of thunder 1750 
Swelling all the cloudy vault from under, 
And the rush of ram from heawen’s high portal / 
Now with these our chief the earth 18 fright’ning. 











ITE. 


XO. 


EXODOS. 


“Hp@ wor odvpria 
Tov 7nuBatov Opdvev 
dpxovra Geots péyav 
Moipar Fuvexoluicav 
TOL@d vpuevaly. 
‘Tun @ ‘Tyévat o. 

0 8 apdiOarns “Epws 
NpuadTrepos nvias 
evOuve traXwrTovous, 
Znvos mdpoyos yauwv 
Kevoalpwovos “Hpas. 
‘Tun & ‘Tyévar oa 
éxdpny tuvows, éyapny dais’ 
Gryapat Sé Adyov. - 

dye vuy avtTov 
kat tas xOovias KMjoare Bpovras 
tas te mupaddes Avs doreporras 
Sewvdv T apyira Kepavvor. 

@® péya ypvoeov acteporrys paos, 
@& Ads duSporov &yyos trupdhédpor, 
® yOdviat Bapvayées 
6uB8popdpoe 6 aya Bpovrral, 


als d6e viv yOova celet. 


78 


1735 


1740 


1745 


1750 


ACT IIL 


All the power of Jove he comes possessing ; 
Royalty, who im glory splendid 
On the ancient throne of Zeus attended, 
He brings by his side in stately pride, 
His queen, his bride, his blessing. 
Sing we the song of Hymen Hymenaeue / 
Cho. Taralala, lala ! 
Waft the conqueror, waft on high, 
Thrilimg lyre and Paean-ory | 
Taralala, lalala / 
Hail to thee, all hail to thee, 
Our supremest deity | 1785 


THE END. 





XO. 


EXODOS. 79 


dta 6¢ Wavta Kpatnoas 
Kat wapedpov Baclrevav eyes Aces. 
“‘Tunv @ ‘Tuévar od. 
[The procession goes forth amidst jubilant music. 
GNanaral in Tray, 
THVEANG KAANIViKOS, @ 


Satovev viréptate. 1765 


TEAOZ. 





APPENDIX. 


My Verse Translation of The Birds, written in 1869 for use 
in Lectures on that play, was published in 1874 by Messrs 
Macmillan. Its Introduction treats of Greek Comedy, especially 
the old Attic Comedy of Aristophanes, its greatest author, and 
of his eleven plays, its only extant samples:—of The Birds, as 
among these perhaps the most striking and most popular :—of 
the controversies waged about its character and design :—finally 
stating and supporting by internal evidence my own view of this 
question. Readers, who would comprehend this drama from its 
author’s stand-point, should consult my Introduction, and Grote’s 
History of Greece, Part uu. Chapters Lvi1, Lvii1. These chapters 
(from p. 127 to p. 211 of the octavo edition, including the 
events of 416—415 B.c.) contain that portion of Athenian history 
which must be known by those‘who would appreciate the general 
design and specific humour of this admirable comedy. 

It competed for a prize on the Athenian stage at the Greater 
(or City) Dionysia in the month of March (Elaphebolion) 414 Bc. 
(about 2300 years ago), gaining only the second prize, the first 
being awarded by the judges to Zhe Komastai of Ameipsias. As 
the preparation for the appearance of such a drama would require 
some considerable time, we must assume that Aristophanes 
delivered his written work to the ‘ Choragus’ of his tribe, (say) in 
some part of January (Gamelion), and that he had, therefore, 
finished its composition towards the close of 415 p.c. That time 
was one of the most critical and anxious in Athenian history. 

11 


82 APPENDIX. 


' When the Sicilian expedition was voted in the spring of 
B.C. 415, there were in Athens three political parties. The demo- 
cratic majority, partisans of progress and of war, who had former- 
ly supported Kleon, were now led hy the daring and able, but 
unprincipled Alkibiades, who, born of high family and possessing 
great wealth, flattered the popular ambition to serve hisown. <A 
smaller body of citizens, moderate in political feeling, were 
generally guided by the advice of Nikias, whose pacific and con- 
servative character was liable to the dangerous faults of indolence 
and superstition. Behind these parties lay in the shade a third, 
the oligarchic faction, not large in numbers, and afraid to avow 
itself, but formidable from its organization, which was conducted 
by secret societies or clubs, called Hetaeries (hetaireiai). The 
members of these were bound by oath to support each other 
mutually in lawsuits and candidature for office, and to propagate 
their political objects at the risk of property and life. The 
partisans of Nikias disliked the character and dreaded the policy 
of Alkibiades: the oligarchic clubbists went farther still; they 
hated him personally, as the French aristocrats in 1789 hated 
Lafayette, considering him a deserter from his order, and one who 
fostered democratic influence as the basis of a virtual tyranny for 
himself. Among the leaders of these Hetaeries in 415 were, 
Andokides, son of Leogoras, a young and wealthy Eupatrid; 
Peisander (Peisandrus) of Acharnae, a cowardly intriguer, who 
afterwards became a traitor; Charikles, in later years one of the 
Thirty ; and the orator Antiphon, son of the sophist Sophilus. Of 
these, Antiphon alone had been hitherto bold enough to oppose 
Alkibiades in public. Nor was it in these political parties only 
that Alkibiades had enemies at work against him. Many of the 
small fry in the Ekklesia, Kleonumos, Androkles, and others, 
envied his popularity, and resented the stings of his scornful 
eloquence. The priests, with Lampon and Diopeithes at their 
head, abhorred the freethinker, whose mockeries of religion im- 
paired their influence, and might tend to diminish their profits, 





APPENDIX. 83 


The comic stage was enlisted in the same cause. Eupolis probably 
exhibited at the Dionysia of the city, in March 415, his comedy 
called The Baptae, in which the licentious revels and nocturnal 
profanities of Alkibiades and his boon companions were held up 
to public indignation. This attack is said to have irritated 
Alkibiades, but it did not avail to shake his influence. 

The expedition to Sicily had been voted, Nikias, Alki- 
biades, and Lamachos being in command as stratégoi; and the 
preparation of the armament was proceeding. The opponents 
of the scheme had called in the aid of superstition to prevent its 
execution, but without success. The popular will was para- 
mount: and the armada continued its preparation, when a fact 
occurred which startled Athens, and led to the most momentous 
consequences, This was the mutilation of the Hermae, justly 
called by Mr Grote ‘one of the most extraordinary events in 
all Grecian history.’ These Hermae, or half-statues of the god 
Hermes, which stood in the streets of Athens, are described by the 
same historian as ‘blocks of marble about the size of the human 
figure.’ See Ch. ivi. p. 146. On the morning of the 11th of 
May, B.c. 415, all these Hermae were found to have been mutilated 
by unknown hands. The characteristic features of each had been 
destroyed, and nothing left but a rude mass of stone. One Hermes 
only had been spared, if the account given by Andokides may he 
trusted ; and that stood near the house of his father Leogoras. 

The effect produced by so daring a sacrilege on the population 
of what Sophokles (Oed. Col. 260) calls the most god-revering 
of cities, could not fail to be tremendous. Horror, alarm, con- 
fusion, suspicion were widely felt, and everywhere displayed ; for 
those who were in the secret counterfeited these emotions, and 
strove to propagate them. Historians are agreed, for the most 
part, that the crime was conceived and executed with a view 
to depopularize and destroy Alkibiades: and the secrecy of 
its execution points to the oligarchic hetaeries as the contrivers 
and agents. Their plan was to fanaticize the popular mind 

11—2 


84 APPENDIX, 


by this sacrilege, and, when inquisition was made, to extend the 
inquiry to all offences against religion, by which means they 
could not fail to inculpate Alkibiades. In this course they might 
calculate with full assurance on the aid of the priests, headed by 
the same Diopeithes who, seventeen years before, under the 
administration of Perikles, had inspired and conducted the 
measures against the philosopher Anaxagoras, which compelled 
him to fly from Athens. Unsuccessful in their former efforts, the 
clubbists were resolved, by one grand cowp, to succeed now. 
And succeed they did in their main object, the ruin of their hated 
rival; but with him they ruined the Sicilian enterprise, they 
ruined their country, and in the long run, by a righteous retri- 
bution, they ruined themselves and their party. 

The Council of 500 met, and summoned a special Ekklesia, 
which voted a Commission of Inquiry. Among the chief in- 
quisitors were Peisander and Charikles, who were not improbably 
in the secret of the plot. A reward of 10,000 drachmas (nearly 
£400) was offered for information: but none as yet came in. A 
further reward of 1000 drachmas was then proposed, on the 
motion of Kleonumos, for all information respecting acts com- 
mitted in violation of religious worship. Still several weeks 
passed without any denunciation. At length, on the very day 
when the stratégoi (Nikias, Lamachos and Alkibiades) were to 
report the completion of the armament, and receive their final 
orders from the people, one Puthonikos, an agent of the con- 
spirators, mounted the bema, and warned the citizens of the danger 
incurred by sending as commander of the fleet a violator of the 
highest religious sanctities. Alkibiades, he said, had profaned 
religion by a mock celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries in 
the house of Polytion, and in the company of other profligate 
young men. A slave Andromachus was brought forward to 
establish this charge by his evidence: and Puthonikos went on to 
denounce Alkibiades as implicated in the mutilation of the 
Hermae; a gross and manifest calumny. Whether for this 








APPENDIX, 85 


reason or for others, the accusation did not gain credence. 
Androkles renewed and extended the charges in another Assembly, 
but the resolute denial of Alkibiades was received with applause. 
Hereupon the conspirators, affecting moderation, proposed to with- 
draw them for the time, and to defer the inquiry concerning the 
mysteries till the return of Alkibiades. Against this course he 
himself protested strongly, demanding an immediate trial, a full 
acquittal or a capital condemnation. His friends do not seem to 
have discerned as clearly as he did the wisdom of insisting on this 
demand. He was not adequately supported; and his enemies so 
far succeeded as to send him to Sicily without a previous trial 
and acquittal. In June, 415, the armada sailed for Sicily. 

The inquisition which then took place at Athens my readers 
will find in Mr Grote’s narrative. Enough here to say that the 
charges of impiety were renewed against Alkibiades in his absence. 
And so many acts of this kind were now imputed, that his enemies 
found it an easy matter to obtain a decree of accusation against 
him, and of recall to answer the charges in person. His 
impeachment before the Council of 500 was moved by Thessalos 
son of Kimon, one of the oligarchic party, and seconded by the 
democratic orator Androkles. The motion being accepted, the 
state-galley Salaminia was despatched to summon him home; the 
trierarch being ordered not to seize his person, but to allow him 
to sail to Athens in his own galley. The Salaminia found the 
Athenian fleet at Katana, in Sicily. Alkibiades obeyed the 
summons, but on the homeward voyage he escaped from Thurii 
in Italy, in September 415. 

On the return of the Salaminia to Athens without Alkibiades, 
he was condemned to death par contumace, his property was 
confiscated, and a solemn curse was pronounced upon him by the 
priests. Such was the sad state of things at Athens when 
Aristophanes wrote The Birds in the autumn and winter of 415, 

What were his political feelings at that time? We cannot 
say with absolute assurance, but what we surmise is this, As a 


86 APPENDIX. 


young man, before the Peace of Nikias (421 B.c.) he had ever 
been a strong opponent of the war-policy initiated by Pericles and 
followed up by Cleon. He had celebrated the Peace with joy in 
the comedy which bears that name. But a man of his intelligence 
could not be blind to the incompetence of Nikias as a statesman and 
a commander; and though Alkibiades now led the party to which 
our poet had always been opposed, Aristophanes would not regard 
him with the same dislike that he had felt and avowed for Cleon. 
He would respect the rank and wealth of the young aspirant to 
power: he might admire his freedom from superstition, his 
contempt of priestcraft. Whether he agreed with Nikias in 
deprecating the invasion of Sicily, we are not informed; but 
supposing such to have been his sentiment, we may be sure 
that, when once Athens had entered upon that perilous enterprise, 
our poet would earnestly desire his country’s success, and would 
see that its best chance lay in reliance on the commanding genius 
of Alkibiades. 

If any competent scholar will take the trouble to examine the 
political situation of the latter part of 415 Bo, the positions of 
the men concerned, their relations to each other, their antecedents 
and probable feelings, considering also the nature of the old Attic 
Comedy and the characteristics of the Aristophanic Plays, such a 
scholar will be led to the same conclusion as myself; that Aristo- 
phanes intended in Zhe Birds to answer and counteract The Baptae 
of his rival Eupolis; that he wished, so far as he dared, to favour 
Alkibiades; and that, above all things, his aim was to laugh 
down and vanquish by the force of ridicule the fanaticism pre- 
valent in Athens at the time when his play was given to the 
Choragus. Opcn protest of his feelings he does not make; he 
does not dare to make it in the face of the rabid and now 
victorious oligarchs and priests, The name of Alkibiades is not 
mentioned anywhere. It was not possible to speak with open 
favour of one who was undoubtedly at that moment a condemned 
exile, though, probably, not yet known to be an actual traitor and 








APPENDIX. 87 


a counsellor of the Spartans against his country. But in the 
course of the play, straws enough are thrown up to shew how the 
wind was blowing in the poet’s mind. I do not speak only of its 
great topic, banter and mimic war against the Olympian deities 
and their ministers, but of the departure of the two friends (line 34 
.foll., 123) from a miserable squabbling Athens; of the horror 
with which a Salaminian trireme looming with a summoner on 
board is mentioned (147); of the scorn expressed for Aristokrates 
(126) and Peisander (1556), two oligarchs'‘whom the poet was not _ 
afraid to irritate, of the vvorafew Kai pedAdovexcav in 638—9, just 
at the time when Nikias was, by wretched procrastination as a 
commander, throwing away all chance of success (see Grote 
ch. LviiI); of the ridicule cast on political and religious suspicion 
in the second -epirrhema, where reward is offered for the heads of 
dead tyrants and a possibly dead atheist, Diagoras (1071 foll.) 
But scarcely has the poet launched these last shafts, than, 
seeming to fear they may be felt too keenly, he calls forth a 
hearty laugh by offering a still higher reward to any one who will 
take alive the poulterer Philokrates. In-short, the whole tenour 
of the play from first to last seems to indicate one design: and if 
that design is not quite so plainly shewn as Moliére’s in the 
Tartuffe, yet the real purpose of the Greek is not less clear than 
that of the French comic poet. 

In short, the purpose of Zhe Birds is this :— vé 18 meant to be an 
antidote to the religious fury which at that tume was the bane of Athens. 
At least one third of its lines contain ridicule of the gods and their 
priesthood, with details of their humiliation and defeat. (See 
Argument.) Yet, amidst this general flouting of the deities, one 
god, a very vulnerable one, escapes. This is Hermes, whom in his 
drama last preceding, The Peace, Aristophanes had signally cari- 
catured. In Zhe Birds, Iris, the female messenger of heaven, has 
to bear the brunt of comic persiflage. Is it not evident that the 
poet shrank from recalling to the public mind that god, to whose 
images (the Hermae) so gross an insult had been lately offered by 


88 APPENDIX. 


secret mutilation? He would not run the risk of laughing to 
scorn a deity whose wrongs had aroused so fierce a storm of 
popular wrath and superstitious horror. But he could venture to 
relax the clenched teeth and unknit the frowning brows of his 
audience by reminding them that to banter the Olympians was a 
privilege allowed to comic poets at the Dionysiac festivals. 

We may well suppose that Aristophanes would defer the 
constitution of his plot, so far as it concerned Athenian events 
and characters, till the time drew near when he meant to produce 
it on the stage. And, when the sad troubles of the spring and 
summer of 415 had embittered and afflicted the Athenian mind, 
when Nikias, by his timid inaction during the rest of the year, 
was losing the best chance of capturing Syracuse, our poet would 
seek to divert his townsmen from their gloom, and to deal, from 
behind his comic shield, a smart slap in the face to Lampon, Dio- 
peithes and the whole confederacy of priests, soothsayers, and 
oligarchs. And this Aristophanes could dare to do, because he 
was a great poet of a people thus described by Geppert (Die 
Altgriechische Biilne, p. 278): 

‘The Greeks denied nothing to their artist. They willingly 
delivered up to him all and everything, to fashion as he chose. 
To the comic poet they surrendered their deities, their political 
institutions, their public and private life, their social relations, 
even their own persons: all they required in return was, that he 
should produce a work worthy of such a god as Dionysus. And 
their poets have used the gift in a way which excites amazement. 
A creative power of humour and wit, which flung aside all fetters, 
has given birth to works of art, such as no time can rival. They 
are caricatures indeed, but in the largest style: they are parodies, 
but of a kind in which the spirit of the age seizes the mask, and 
plays its own comedy. The Demos of Athens, the very Genius 
of Hellas, is the acting character in these inspired outbursts of 
comic scorn; nay, it is also the suffering character, for it parodies 
itself. So was it with the Greeks. Yes, there has been a people 











APPENDIX. 89 


proud enough to obey no laws but those of its own making; great 
enough to laugh at its own follies: a vigorous, youthful people, 
able to think and feel, as no nation of the earth has since their 
times thought and felt.”’ 


A few Help-notes on the Translation are subjoined for the use 
of spectators not familiar with the original. 


Line 11. Exekestides, Akestor (under the name Sakas), 
Spintharus &c. are ridiculed as persons claiming to be Athenian 
citizens without legal right. 

15. Tereus king of Thrace, changed into a hoopoe. See 
Classical Dictionary. 

16. ‘Brat of Tharraleides,’ i.e. impudent creature: probably a 
mere nickname, from ‘tharraleos,’ audacious. 

28. ‘To go to the ravens,’ a saying equivalent in meaning to 
‘go to the deuce.’ 

31. Sakas: see note on line 11. 

58. Hoopopoi: a pun on the hoopoe (epops) and the word 
epopola,’ ‘epic poetry.’ 

61. Runner-bird, ‘trochilos,’ perhaps wagtail. 

71. Cock-fighting was an Athenian amusement. 

77. ‘Phalerian whitebait.’ Phaleron was the eastern harbour 
of Athens. 

96. ‘May you be smashed’ was a Greek term of imprecation. 

100. Sophocles wrote a tragedy on the fable of Tereus, with 
that title. 

102. ‘Bird or peacock.’ Peacocks were a novelty from the 
East. ‘Ornis’ bird, was often used to signify the domestic fowl: a 
hen. 
109. ‘Heliasts’: ie. jurymen (dicasts) in the court called 
Heliaea; a skit on the prevalence of litigation at Athens. 

123. ‘Kranaan.’ Athens gained this title from an ancient 
hero Kranaus. 


90 APPENDIX. 


126. ‘Skellias’ youngster’; Aristokrates, one of the oligarchic 
party, afterwards put to death B.c. 406. 

154, Salaminia, The Paralos and Salaminia were two 
public galleys, used for messages to officers abroad, and for convey- 
ing accused persons to Athens, This passage shews that the 
comedy was written after Alkibiades had been summoned home. 

182—4. The words ‘site’ and ‘city’ are used as parallel 
to the play of words in the Greek; pdlos, pdlis. 

186. ‘Melion famine.’ Melos was starved into surrender. 

194, As swearing is the attestation of a dreaded power, the 
birds are made to swear by objects they may be supposed to dread. 

267. The two birds that first appear are a ‘flamingo (phae- 
nicopteros), and one called Medos, supposed to be a variety of the 
domestic cock. The words (275) ‘holding an uncommon site’ are 
parodied from a tragedy of Sophocles. They are augural. 

358. The owl will not molest the pot, because an owl perched 
on a pot was carried in the procession of the Panathenaea. 

363. Nikias was much esteemed for his skill in the conduct 
of sieges. 

497, Al{mus, a deme of the tribe Leontis, near the Phalerian 
harbour, 

501. Kites were wrongly supposed to migrate: hence the 
kite first seen after return was saluted. 

515. As we nowhere else hear of birds on the head of statues 
‘we must surmise that Aristophanes puts a comic fact in the mouth 
of his hero to support a comic logic. 

521. Lampon, asoothsayer of the time, mentioned again 988. 
Swearing by animals and trees was a curious practice, intended 
to avoid irreverent mention of deities. X7va (goose) is supposed 
to be such a substitution for Zjva (Jove). 

523. ‘Jacks,’ Gr. Manas. Manes was an ordinary slave’s 
name. 

693. Prodikos, a famous sophist, whose forte was philology. 

712. Orestes, a footpad and cloak-robber. 








APPENDIX. 91 


720. As omens were familiarly drawn from the flight and the 
cries of birds, ‘bird’ became in Greek and Latin a common word 
for ‘omen.’ 

746. ‘The Mountain Mother’ is the goddess Kybele. 

766. ‘Peisias’ son,’ one Meles, a harper. Of his treasons 
nothing is known. : 

807. ‘The poet’ Aeschylus, who, in a lost play, cites the well- 
known fable of the eagle, killed by an arrow feathered from his 
own wing. 

815. A plant called ‘sparton’ (a kind of broom) was used to 
make a cheap bed-rope, called ‘Sparte,’ here, by a pun, con- 
founded with the city so named. 

819. <A city founded on ‘clouds’ and inhabited by ‘cuckoos’ 
(regarded as vain birds) represents an unreality, a castle in the air. 

826. Euelpides asks who shall occupy the Acropolis of the 
new city, and wear the splendid robe carried in the processions of 
Pallas Polias (Athene or Athenaia). 

831. Kleisthenes, an effeminate Athenian noble. 

832. Storkwall, ‘Pelargikon’ from pelargos a stork; pun upon 
the Pelasgic wall of the Athenian Acropolis. 

833. ‘A bird of ours:’ the cock whose crowing awakes 
people against their will. 

857. Chairis, a flute-player. 

860. ‘Mouth-piece.’ Gr. phorbeia, a Jeather respirator fas- 
tened round the jaws by the flute-player to moderate the effusion 
of his breath. | 

865—886. Here the style and dialect of the old Ionic 
liturgies are parodied, and their prose form kept. The new bird- 
deities are comically associated with the old, but to Hestia 
(Vesta), goddess of the hearth-fire, no bird-name is attached. She 
could not be omitted, being the maintainer of the holy flame in 
house, ward-room and town-hall. The kite represents the hearth- 
guarding Zeus; the musical swan Apollo of Delphi and Delos; 
the mother-quail Lato (Latona); the goldfinch Artemis (Diana) ; 
‘phrugilos’ (?) is the mysterious Sabazian Dionysos of Phrygia : 


92 APPENDIX, 


the sparrow (or ostrich) the Great Mother Kybele. To these are 
added ludicrously a number of hero-birds (demigods), some with 
known names, others seemingly unreal inventions. 

869. Before this verse some lines of the liturgy are evidently 
lost, in which Poseidon (Neptune) was addressed as the Hawk 
worshipped at Sunium in Attica (Souniaratos). He is called Stork 
by a pun, being ‘ pelagikos,’ sea-god ; ‘pelargos’ is a stork. See above. 

874. Kolaenis, an old mysterious title of Artemis. 

875. ‘Strouthos’ may mean either sparrow or ostrich: if 
the former is meant here, the Great Mother is parodied by 
ironical contrast, and Kleokritos, probably a big gawky person, 
will remind us of ‘ Little John’ in English legend. 

880. The Chians, till after the Sicilian defeat, were the most 
faithful allies of Athens, and named in its liturgies, 

918—19, Cyclian songs are ‘dithyrambs’: Parthenean, such 
as were sung by a choir of virgins (parthénoi); Simonides, the 
famous lyric poet of Ceos (Zia). 

924—930. Pindar is parodied in these verses, and again at 
941 and 950. 

967. Oracles were sung in Homeric verse; and usually 
commence with ‘but,’ being regarded as extracts from the Law- 
book of Fate. 

969. The Korinthians were the bitterest foes of Athens. 
They kindled the Peloponnesian War. 

970. Bakis, an ancient soothsayer. 

971. Pandora, the All-giving, a very suitable deity for this 
Sootheayer’ 8 purpose. 

997. Meton, a famous mathematician of the time, who 
invented a new calendar, called Meton’s cycle. He resided in the 
Kolonos Agoraios, near the Stoa Poikilé. 

1009. Thales of Miletos, the great Ionic hilosdohar one of 
the Seven Sages. 

1013. The laws of Lakedaemon (Sparta) forbade aliens to 
reside there. 

1021. Inspectors (episkopoi) were sent out to subject states 


APPENDIX. | 93 


with an authority resembling that of modern governors. The 
Spartans called their inspectors ‘harmostai’ ie. adapters. The 
‘proxenoi’ were resident citizens, who exercised towards the ruling 
state functions like those of modern ‘consuls’. Sardanapallus, the 
Assyrian king; the coxcombical dress and assuming manners 
of the episkopos are represented by this title (dainty don). 

1028. Pharnakes, the Persian satrap of Daskulitis. Both the 
Greek contending parties had now begun to court the Persian 
alliance, 

1035. The last intruder is a vendor of psephismas, ie. of 
plebiscites or decrees of the Athenian Ekklesia. 

1041. ‘As those of Poland.’ Gr. as those of the Olophuxians. 
Olophuxos was a colony on the Thracian coast. The name is used 
for the sake of the poor pun which follows: ‘Ototuxians,’ i.e. 
Lamenters or Sobbers. . Poland and Woland are used to exhibit 
the point of this comic jest. 

1072. Diagoras of Melos was a notorious atheist of the time, 
Here Aristophanes evidently glances with some contempt at the 
measures taken against the suspected Hermokopidae. See 
Grote, LVIII. 

1106, Lauriotic owls: Le. coins of silver from the mines of 
Laurion, bearing the image of an owl, the bird of Pallas. 

1121. Gr. ‘breathing Alpheios,’ i.e. panting like a racer at 
Olympia, where the river Alpheios skirted the race ground. 

1150-51, After xaromy one line and a half, possibly two lines 
and a half, are lost. The translation supplies by guesswork, which 
cannot be far wrong. 

1155. ‘Yellow-hammers,’ Gr. pelicans, containing a pun. 
The birds are altered in translation, to retain the comic jest. 

1203-4. The floating dress of Iris suggests the ludicrous 
question, ‘bark or bonnet?’ And her answer, ‘Swift Iris,’ 
suggests another, which of the two swift triremes, ‘ Paralos or 
Salaminia ?’ 

1242 foll. ‘Likymnian bolts,’ ‘Lydian or Phrygian,’ ‘Am- 
phion’s domes.’ The expressions are parodies from tragedies. 


94 APPENDIX. 


1250. ‘Magogian birds,’ Gr. porphyrions, harmless seabirds, 
suggesting the giant Porphyrion. 

1281, &c. ‘Lakonomaniacs.’ There was always at Athens 
an affected minority who admired and imitated the ‘total 
abstinence’ of the Spartans from all kinds of luxury. These 
persons, says the herald, ‘esdkratén,’ ‘had the Socratic malady.’ 
The plain style of living adopted by Sokrates is unjustly called 
‘dirtiness.’ They carried skytal-staves, Gr. ‘eskutaliophoroun.’ 
The skytalé was a staff invented at Sparta for secret communica- 
tion with civil and military officers. 

1292-99, Among the persons here caricatured, we know nothing 
of the shopkeeper or of Menippos: Philokles was the tragic poet, 
who gained the prize against the Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophokles. 
Lykurgos had probably a taint of Egyptian blood, hence called 
ibis: Chaerephon is the pallid gloomy-looking disciple of Sokrates ; 
Surakosios a loquacious demagogue. Meidias had an ugly scar 
on his forehead. The game of quail-smiting consisted in filliping 
the poor bird’s head, which if he bore without flinching, his owner 
was victorious. 

1365. The ‘wing’ is a shield, the ‘spur’ a spear. 

1410. The Informer enters singing a catch of Alkaios. His 
Greek title is ‘sukophantes,’ afterwards extended to include 
all who live at other people’s cost. Hence our word ‘sycophant.’ 

1416-17. ‘Upon his cloak.’ The cloak is ‘dappled’ with 
patches and holes. The next line refers to the saying, ‘one 
swallow does not make a summer.’ 

1421. ‘Woolston.’ Gr, Pellene ; a Greek Bradford, renowned 
for its woollen goods. 

1463, The whips of Korkura were famous. 

1468. ‘Justice-twisting tricks.’ Such an imitation of the 
Greek as ‘pettifoggicorascality’ seems to me an error in taste, 
unsuited to the genius of our language. As well might the word 
‘of six lines in the Ecclesiazusae which describes the menu of a 
feast be rendered in some such style as turtilo consommo-salmono- 
turboto-cotelletto-sirloino, &c., &c. 





APPENDIX. 95 


1474, ‘Beyond Hart’: lit. ‘farther off than Kardia,’ which 
is a town in the Thracian Chersonese. Kleonusmos, though tall 
and good-looking, is branded as a worthless coward. He was 
among the enemies of Alkibiades. 

1479. ‘Load of figs, &c.’ Gr, sukophantei, meaning that he 
lays informations, probably in the affair of the Hermae. 

1491. Orestes the footpad is called a hero, because his name 
is that uf Agamemnon’s son. 

1494, The scene with Petia is highly comic and a 
broad caricature of the Promethean myth, as exhibited by 
Aeschylus in three dramas, of which only the ‘ Prometheus 
Vinctus’ survives. 

1500. ‘Towards four o’clock.’ Gr. bouliitos, ‘the time of 
loosing oxen.’ See Hom. JZ. xvi. 779. 

1519. ‘In the Thesmophorian days.’ The Thesmophoria 
were solemnized by married women from the 9th to the 13th 
of Puanepsion (November). They required abstinence on account 
of certain mysteries. 

1520. ‘Barbarian gods,’ As barbarous tribes dwelt north of 
Greece, Aristophanes ludicrously supposes barbarous gods existing 
above the heavenly Olympus, and gives them the title of a very 
fierce and wild Thracian tribe, the Triballi. This conception is 
carried out with the raciest humour in the next scene. 

1527. ‘His sire-god.’ The members of a ward (phratria) 
worshipped a common Zeus and Apollo, each called ‘ho patrdos’ 
(sire-god). On Exekestides see note on line 11. 

1530. ‘A tribe allied.’ This jeu de mots is substituted for 
that in the Greek text; which cannot be rendered in English. 

1536. ‘Royalty.’ Gr. Basileia. This title personifies the 
kingly power of Zeus. 

1541. ‘Paymaster,’ Gr. kolagretes, an officer at Athens, who 
paid jurymen their fees. 

1546, ‘Through whom we grill.’ Prometheus was punished 
by Zeus for stealing fire from heaven, and giving it to mortals, 


96 APPENDIX. 


1548, ‘Hate of gods. By using a somewhat rare and 
ambiguous word, Peithetairos seems to imply that the gods hate 
Prometheus. But Prometheus accepts it in the other sense, 
calling himself a Timon who hates the gods. 

1552. ‘Basket-bearer.’ Gr. kanéphtros, a maiden who carried 
a sacred basket in the Panathenaean procession. A camp-stool was 
carried by another maiden, for her occasional relief. 

1568. ‘To the right.’ The Athenian fashion was, to pass the 
cloak (himation) over the left shoulder, drawing it round the back 
towards the right, carrying it beneath the right arm, which re- 
mained free, finally bringing it back to the left shoulder, where it 
was clasped, hanging down gracefully. This was called ‘epi-dexia’, 
‘rightward manner’. The Triballian god was arraying himself in 
the reverse way, and is rebuked by the polite and courtly 
Poseidon for being so gauche. 

1579. Peithetairos here baits his hook for Herakles (Her- 
cules), whose gluttonous tastes appear in the Alkestis of Euripides ; 
and affects throughout a supreme indifference to the presence of the 
envoys. Herakles nibbles at once. Peith. spins his bait again 
at line 1602 and finally hooks his fish at 1673. 

1615. ‘Nabaisatreu.’ Kock interprets this; ‘let us three go 
back.’ 

1645. This and all that follows is highly comic. Zeus, the 
supreme god, is supposed to die and leave all his property to be 
distributed according to Attic law. 

1682. The Greeks likened barbarians to swallows, as twitter- 
ing and roaming foreigners. 

1720. The quick return of Peithetairos from heaven with his 
bride Basileia, shows how little Greek comedy cared for the famous _ 
unities of Tragedy. His final triumph convinces me that in him 
Aristophanes meant to delineate Alkibiades, and to hint that 
success in a great enterprise cannot be achieved without boldness, 
decision and promptitude, qualities in which Alkibiades excelled, 
while Nikias, though brave and virtuous, was deficient in them. 








APPENDIX. 97 


ON THE PARABASIS PROPER. 


In the Clouds the Parabasis proper is in the peculiar metre in- 
vented by Eupolis, thence called Eupolidean. The Frogs, Lysistrata, 
Ekklesiazusae and Plutus have no Parabasis. But in the other six 
extant plays of Aristophanes, the Acharnians, Knights, Wasps, 
Peace, Birds, Thesmophoriazusae, the Parabasis proper is in the 
metre called Anapaestic Tetrameter Catalectic. This was so usual 
that in three of these plays this portion of the drama is called 
‘the Anapaests.’ | 

Mr Frere’s clever translation of the Parabasis represents 
his own witty conception, but not the mind of Aristophanes. 
Mr Frere has most ably striven to imitate the supposed utterance 
of Birds, fluttering, tremulous, irresolute, eager, irregular; snatches 
and bursts of speech. He probably thought (for such used to be 
the prevalent notion) that the Parabasis was recited by the full 
chorus of Birds. We know now that it was spoken by one, the 
Coryphaeus: and there is little doubt that here the Coryphaeus 
was the grave, solemn, pompous owl. This Parabasis was there- 
fore uttered as steadily, as deliberately, as magniloquently as a 
royal speech, or a judgment of the Lord Chancellor from the 
Woolsack. Fluttering is altogether out of place as representing 
the original here, however appropriate to the Parodos, to the 
Ode and Antode, or other places, where the poet marks it 
by stuttering, by agglomeration of short syllables, by repetitions 
(epopopopopopopopopoi), or by imitative sounds (tio, tio, trioto, 
totobrix, &c.). The humour of the Parabasis proper is quite 
different, nay, it is the very reverse of this. Its language is in 
the highest degree full and loud-sounding, bombastic, epically 
grandiloquent: the wit consists altogether in Parody and Irony. 
The theogonies of the Orphic poets, which formed the frequent 

; 12 





98 APPENDIX. 


subject-matter of sophistic lectures, especially of the lectures 
delivered by Prodikos, are here ludicrously parodied— the Birds 
being put in the place of the gods. And herein is the laughable 
Irony of the whole passage. In the most high-flown serio-comic 
style (such as readers of our dramatic literature will remember in 
the Midsummer Night's Dream, in Bombastes Furioso, and in The 
Critic), the Coryphaeus proclaims the Birds to be a race of beings 
older than gods, supreme benefactors of mankind, their true 
prophets and interpreters; and in the Makron he promises from 
them every blessing to the human race for ever and ever, even to 
surfeiting. Such, and such alone, is the humorous design of this 
passage, to which mock-gravity, mock-dignity, mock-sententious- 
ness, and an ex-cathedra judicial air are absolutely essential; 
while anything like fluttering hesitation and palpitating haste are 
not only foreign, but hostile, to its purpose. I must not forget to 
add that one of the critics talks of ‘fluttering anapaests.’ Indeed? 
If Birds are supposed to ‘flutter’ in anapaests, what of the sturdy 
Coal-heavers of Acharnae? what of the stalwart Knights of 
Athens? Do they ‘flutter’ also in the anapaestic movement 
of their Parabases? There is no metrical foot which Bird-motion 
may not be supposed to imitate. If a hop and a skip through a 
tree, ending with a jump to the ground, may represent an 
anapaest, a jump on the ground followed by a hop and skip intoa 
tree, may represent a dactyl, and so on. 

In my translation of the Parabasis I substituted Trochaic for 
Anapaestic rhythm, because I thought it more likely to please. 
T could have imitated the original with more ease, as the 
following Anapaestic version, printed in 1874, will shew. 


Ho ye men who by nature are dim-lived, attend, ye most sem- 
blant of all to the leaf-race, 

Little furnish’d with strength, and mere figments of clay, sha- 
dow-wrought population and nerveless ; 


APPENDIX. 99 


O ye wingless ephemerals, born to endure, O ye men that are 
mortal and dreamlike, 

Unto us the immortals give diligent heed, unto us who are ever 
existent, 

The etherial dwellers, untouch’d by old age, the devisers of plans 
never-ending : | 

That, when once ye have learnt all the lore that we teach of 
the regions above so veracious, 

When ye know to the full the true nature of birds, the descent 
of the gods, and the rivers 

That through Chaos and Erebus — run, ye may bid prosy Prodikos 
hang for the future. 

First Chaos and Night and black Erebos were, and grim Tarta- 
ros widely extended ; 

But at that time nor Earth was in oes nor Air, nor the 
Heaven itself was existing, 

When in Erebos’ limitless lap first of all did the dark-pluméd 
Night lay a wind-egg, 

Whence in due revolution of seasons sprang Love, the dispenser 
of all that is sweetest, 

With his pinions of gold shining brightly behind, and in speed 
like to wind-rolling eddies. 

He in Tartaros wide, as the legend imports, with the dark misty 
Chaos uniting, 

Became father of us; and there nurtured our race, till we came 
forth to light for the first time. 

There existed no race of immortals until Love wrought to the 
blending of all things ; 

But, when one with another was mingled, arose the great heaven, 
the earth and the ocean, 

And the stock never-dying of all happy gods. Thus of all 
blessed beings we're oldest. 

Many facts prove us children of Love; for we fly, and are fond 
of consorting with lovers, 


100 APPENDIX. ° 


Who, when other resources are fruitless, have found that the gift 
of a bird is effective, 

And the battle of love may be won by a quail, or a goose, or a 
finch or a sparrow. 

Of the many great blessings that mortals enjoy, those they get 
from the birds are the greatest. 

In the first place of seasons the signals we bring, of the winter, 
the spring and the summer. 

They must sow when the clangour is heard in the air of the 
crane into Libya retreating; 

At the same time he tells the ship-captain to hang up the 
rudder and tranquilly slumber ; 

And he bids for Orestes be woven a cloak, lest he shiver and 
take to dismantling. 

The next bird after this that appears is the kite, introducing a 
different season, 

When the spring-laden fleece of the sheep must be shorn: then 
the swallow next makes her appearance, 

Who declares it is time to dispose of the cloak and to purchase 
a blouse for the dogdays., 

Furthermore we are Ammon and Delphi to you, your Dodona, 
your Phoebus Apollo; 

For ye come to the birds first of all for advice, ere ye go to 
your worldly vocations, 

To your commerce in marts, to the choice of a trade, and an- 
other, it may be, to marriage. 

Whatsoever about divination decides, with the title of bird ye 
endow it;- 

Ye pronounce it ‘a bird,’ be it oracle, sneeze, voice or omen or 
footman or donkey. 

So this question we ask, and the answer is plain; are we not 


your prophetic Apollo? 
B. H. K. 


CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY 0. J. OLAY, M.A. & SON, AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 


Published uniformly with this edition, Price 1s. 


THE BIRDS OF ARISTOPHANKS, 


TRANSLATED BY 


JOHN HOOKHAM FRERE. 


*.* The two editions are arranged so as to correspond page 
for page throughout. 








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